Scientists from Harvard and elsewhere found that people who exercise 150-600 minutes a week have the lowest death risk.
The 2018 physical activity guidelines for Americans recommend a minimum of 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, 75 to 150 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both.
In the current study, researchers aimed to examine whether higher levels of long-term VPA and MPA are associated with lower death risk.
They used data from more than 116,000 adults from 2 large prospective US studies (Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 1988–2018).
Each participant gave detailed self-reported leisure-time physical activity up to 15 times during the follow-up.
The team found during 30 years of follow-up, there were 47 596 deaths.
People meeting the long-term leisure-time vigorous physical activity guideline (75–149 minutes per week) versus no VPA had lower death risks from all causes and heart disease.
Meeting the long-term leisure-time moderate physical activity guideline (150–299 minutes per week) was similarly linked to lower death risk: 19% to 25% lower death risks from all causes and heart disease.
The team also found people who reported 2 to 4 times above the recommended minimum of long-term leisure-time vigorous physical activity (150–299 minutes per week) or moderate physical activity (300–599 minutes per week) showed even lower death risks.
But higher levels of either long-term leisure-time vigorous physical activity (≥300 minutes per week) or moderate physical activity (≥600 minutes per week) did not clearly show further lower death risks.
The researchers also found for people who reported <300 minutes per week of long-term leisure-time moderate physical activity, additional leisure-time vigorous physical activity was linked to lower death risks.
However, among those who reported ≥300 minutes per week of long-term leisure-time moderate physical activity, additional leisure-time vigorous physical activity did not appear to be linked to lower mortality beyond moderate physical activity.
Based on the findings, the team concludes that the nearly maximum association with lower death risk can be achieved by performing ≈150 to 300 minutes per week of long-term leisure-time vigorous physical activity, 300 to 600 minutes per week of long-term leisure-time moderate physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both.
The research was published in Circulation and conducted by Dong Hoon Lee et al.
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