Read time: 4 minutes

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Living longer is high on many people’s list of reasons to follow a healthy lifestyle.

And let’s be honest, the pursuit of longevity has some doing some pretty crazy things (blood transfusions from your kids, anyone?).

These antics aside, it’s clear plain-old exercise is one of THE most potent tools to help us live longer.

But the question is - how much impact does physical activity actually have on our life expectancy?

And is doing more - or going harder - the key to living longer?

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Unravelling how physical activity volume and intensity impact longevity

To answer these questions, a 2024 study used data from the UK Biobank: a cohort study of over 500,000 UK women and men from March 2006 to July 2010.

About 106,000 participants from the study agreed to wear an accelerometer for 7 days.

After excluding those who were pregnant or had cancer or cardiovascular disease, this left just over 71,000 participants (median age 62) with accelerometer data.

Wearing these devices on their wrist allowed both the volume (amount) and intensity of their physical activity to be captured.

The researchers then used survival curves to predict the life expectancy for each participant at varying volumes and intensities of activity (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th centiles).

The average life expectancy at each activity level was then compared to the lowest amount (10th centile) of volume and intensity.

So - what does this all mean?

Basically, this predicted how increases in volume and intensity of physical activity impact life expectancy - when adjusted for various confounders (like non-cancer illnesses, dietary intake, alcohol, sleep, and smoking status).

But here’s the kicker:

The researchers also modelled the impact of adding a short daily brisk walk (10 min and 30 min) on life expectancy in those with lower physical activity (bottom 10th, 25th, and 50th centiles).

So - was doing more total activity - or more intensity - important for living longer?

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Does more physical activity equal a longer life?

The short answer is yes.

For both men and women, those with the highest volume and intensity profiles were predicted to live longest.

Compared to the lowest activity profiles, this equated to a life expectancy of:

• 95.6 years (+3.4 extra years) for women
• 94.5 years (+4.6 more years) for men

And there were some indications intensity was important, too.

In women, those who had a high compared to a low intensity profile (for any given volume of physical activity) lived for 1.7 extra years.

This was also seen in men, but only up to median volume levels, where higher intensities also provided 1.7 more years.

Here’s the impact of higher volumes and intensities of physical activity on the difference in life expectancy at 60 years for women and men (the values on right are relative to the lowest volume and intensity category):

This means for women, more volume AND intensity had extra benefits, but for men, more intensity was only more beneficial at lower volumes.

It’s worth highlighting that even in the lowest volume category (10th centile), increases in life expectancy of between 0.5 and 2.0 years (for women) and 0.7-3.1 years (for men) were seen.

This again shows the large relative benefits when going from no activity to even small amounts.

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The surprising impact of small increases in activity

This is where the findings get really interesting.

In those with low activity levels (bottom 10th centile for volume and intensity), a simple 10-30 minute daily brisk walk added:

• +0.9-1.4 years for women
• And +1.4-2.5 years for men

These benefits were slightly less in those doing higher levels of activity.

But this highlights the impacts of even small doses of activity - especially in those who are relatively inactive.

These benefits are similar to physically active lifestyles more generally - those with activity levels consistent with guidelines (150 minutes of moderate activity weekly) are estimated to live 1-4 years longer than inactive adults.

Another vote for the power of small doses of physical activity.

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Like most studies, there’s a few things to ponder…

First, this was an observational study - so many things that may impact lifespan were outside the researcher’s control.

The life expectancy values were predicted too, so they are only estimates of course.

It’s also possible those who chose to wear an accelerometer in the study were relatively healthy (their predicted life expectancies were a decade beyond UK averages).

The device was only worn for a 7-day period too, which may not reflect longer-term activity patterns (although these measures are reasonably consistent over time).

Plus other forms of physical activity - such as resistance training - may not have been captured, while workplace (non-leisure) physical activity may have been.

All-in-all, these factors could have influenced the predicted impact of physical activity on life expectancy in this study.

And numbers aside, we need to remember living longer doesn’t mean living better, either.

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More is better, but less is more?

A key take-home from this study is more activity at higher intensities may further extend lifespan.

But in those who are relatively inactive, something as simple as a daily 10 min brisk walk could give life expectancy a decent boost.

So the general rule with exercise rings true:

More is better, but a little is a heck of a lot better than nothing.

And this reminds us that when “more” isn’t possible, even tiny amounts are totally worth it.

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As always, thanks for being here!

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Until next week,

Jackson

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IMPORTANT:

The information contained herein is of general nature only and does not constitute personal advice. You should not act on any information without considering your personal needs, circumstances, and objectives. Any exercise program may result in injury. We recommend you obtain advice specific to your circumstances from an appropriate health professional before starting any exercise program.