Exercise might NOT make you live longer: Fascinating study debunks age-old belief by finding that being too active can actually spur ageing
- Scientists in Finland have suggested that being too active does not extend life
- The results showed that those who were active were about one-tenth less likely to die
For decades we have been told that exercising as much as possible is crucial to preventing premature death.
But now academics in Finland have questioned the age-old logic after discovering that being too active does not necessarily extend life.
Experts from the University of Jyvaskyla examined the exercise habits and biological age of thousands of participants.
The results showed that the most active adults were the least likely to die over the course of the 45-year study.
However, the association faded sharply when lifestyle factors, such as smoking and alcohol, were taken into account.
It means that people who exercise more theoretically only live longer because they eat a healthy diet, get enough sleep and are social, as opposed to the amount of time they spend in the gym.
The results suggest that being among the top tier of workout enthusiasts could even promote biological aging by almost two years.
Scientists in Finland have suggested that being too active does not extend life. Researchers examined the exercise habits and biological age of thousands of participants.
Previous studies suggest that exercise is linked to slowing down this internal process.
Researchers examined more than 11,000 twins, aged between 18 and 50 at the start of the study, who were followed from 1975 to 2020.
They completed questionnaires about their physical activity levels, which categorized them as sedentary (13.4 percent), moderately active (36.7 percent), active (38.7 percent) or very active (11.2 percent).
The researchers did not say how long people had to exercise to fall into each category.
The team also took blood samples to track biological aging – the rate at which a person physically ages.
To calculate their biological age, the researchers examined changes in DNA, which reflect factors that influence lifespan, such as genes, eating habits and exercise.
Results shows that those who were moderately active, active or very active were 15 to 23 percent less likely to die during the 45-year study than those who were sedentary.
However, after taking BMI, smoking and alcohol consumption into account, the data showed that there was only a seven percent reduction in deaths among the active group compared to the sedentary group, with 'no additional benefits provided by higher levels' of exercise.
The researchers called this 'remarkable'.
And analysis of blood data showed that those who exercised the least had the oldest biological age, but so did those who exercised the most.
The most active were biologically 1.3 years older than those who were moderately active and 1.8 years older than those who were active.
The researchers suggested that, rather than high levels of physical activity reducing the risk of premature death, being active is simply an indicator of an overall healthy lifestyle.
The results have been published in a pre-print database medRxiv and have yet to be peer-reviewed. But the study won a sports medicine prize in Finland this week.
Dr. George Savva, a senior researcher at Norwich-based food and health research centre, the Quadram Institute, said The times that using twins is a “powerful research design.”
However, he noted that BMI can be affected by exercise level. But the researchers adjusted their findings to take BMI into account, meaning they may have missed some effects of physical activity.
He said: 'If the benefits of exercise are mediated by promoting weight loss, then this study may not detect this in the final analysis.'