How Many Days And How Many Minutes Of Exercise Do You Need To Increase Your Longevity?

At this point in life, we all know that exercise is a non-negotiable, that we need it to maintain physical and mental health, to take care of our body and mind, but it’s also necessary to age more functionally and slowly. Exercise is key to avoiding sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass that occurs with age, and to achieving a better quality of life as we get older.

One of the world’s main interests today is longevity, which is not just about adding a few years to our lives, but about ensuring that those years are good ones, with independence, mobility, health, and strength, so that we can truly enjoy them, and exercise plays a very important role in all of this.

How much exercise should you do to live longer? Minutes and days per week

You probably already know that there is a minimum recommended amount of exercise you should do per week and day. The American Heart Association says the average adult should get about 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (swimming, running, or walking) per week, and that they need a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise per day.

It is also recommended to combine several exercises, starting with strength training, which is the most beneficial for longevity, and continuing with cardiovascular exercise, mobility, and flexibility. It is also recommended to exercise at least two to three days a week.

On the other hand, there is also the issue of the number of steps you should take to be healthy, which is around 5,000 steps (and not the 10,000 that was previously thought).

What does science say about the amount and duration of exercise?

What science has found is that while there is a minimum amount of exercise we should do to be healthy and feel good, if we want to combat aging and increase longevity, then what we need to do is increase that amount.

More is better, although that doesn’t mean you need to train obsessively or spend five hours running and three hours lifting weights. Excessive training isn’t the solution either.

“The study concluded that exercising two to four times more than recommended for minimal vigorous physical activity led to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Those who exercised two to four times more than recommended for moderate physical activity ( 300 to 599 minutes per week ) saw the greatest benefits,” the American Medical Association says, adding that “Participants who did two to four times more moderate physical activity than recommended had a 26% to 31% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 28% to 38% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. They also had a 25% to 27% lower risk of non-cardiovascular disease mortality.”

What we need to do, according to the medical association, is to engage in a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities over the long term. Furthermore, we need to not only exercise, but also find ways to move more and stay active throughout the day.

And you don’t have to go from zero to 300 minutes all at once; the study also says you can see the benefits when you’re inactive, adding “modest” levels of exercise and gradually increasing them.

In conclusion, if you want to live longer and better, you need to exceed the recommended amount of exercise and combine different intensities.