People who do many different kinds of exercise may live longer, according to a study in the journal BMJ Medicine. It isn’t just about exercising more; the biggest gains happen up to a certain amount, after which extra activity adds little.
The researchers also found that variety matters. Even if two people spend the same total time being active, the one who mixes activities has a lower chance of dying. Still, any regular activity is important.
Why Variety Helps
Exercise is known to improve physical and mental health and to lower the risk of early death. What was less clear is whether some types of exercise are especially useful, or if doing a mix gives extra advantages.
To answer this, scientists looked at two huge, long‑term studies: the Nurses' Health Study (about 122,000 women) and the Health Professionals Follow‑Up Study (about 52,000 men). Participants reported their activities every two years for more than 30 years.
What People Reported
Since 1986, participants listed many activities, such as walking, jogging, running, cycling (including stationary bikes), lap swimming, rowing or body‑weight moves, tennis, squash, and racquetball.
Later surveys added details about weight‑training, yoga, stretching, lawn‑mowing, gardening, digging, and chopping wood. They also noted how many flights of stairs they climbed each day.
Researchers turned these reports into MET scores – a way to measure how much energy each activity uses compared with resting. The analysis covered over 111,000 people for total activity and a similar number for activity variety.
Who Was Most Active?
Walking was the most common pastime. Men were more likely than women to jog or run. People who reported higher overall activity tended to be healthier: they smoked less, had lower blood pressure and cholesterol, weighed less, ate better, drank moderately, and stayed socially connected.
Exercise and Death Risk Over 30 Years
During the three‑decade follow‑up, 38,847 participants died, including deaths from heart disease, cancer, and lung disease. Higher total activity and most individual activities (except swimming) were linked to a lower chance of death from any cause.
The benefit wasn’t a straight line. Risk continued to drop until about 20 MET‑hours per week, then the advantage levelled off.
Activities With the Biggest Impact
Walking showed a strong link: the most frequent walkers had a 17 % lower death risk than the least frequent. Climbing stairs cut risk by about 10 %.
Other activities also helped. Tennis, squash, or racquetball reduced risk by 15 %; rowing or body‑weight moves by 14 %; weight training and running each by 13 %; jogging by 11 %; and cycling by 4 %.
Extra Boost From Mixing Activities
When the scientists adjusted for total activity, people who did the widest range of exercises had a 19 % lower risk of dying from any cause. Their risk of death from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and other causes was 13‑41 % lower compared with those who stuck to fewer types.
Study Limits and Take‑Away
This research is observational, so it cannot prove cause and effect. Exercise reports were self‑reported, which may be imperfect. MET calculations assumed full effort for each activity, and intensity details were limited. Most participants were White, which may affect how the findings apply to other groups.