Just half an hour of squats each week can prevent early death, research now shows.
Japanese experts have reviewed more than a dozen studies that have examined whether muscle-building exercises have any effect on mortality.
The results show that performing between 30-60 minutes of muscle-strengthening exercises a week reduces the risk of death by up to 20 percent.
Such muscle building activities may include squats, push-ups and sit-ups, as well as digging and rowing in the garden.
Experts from Tohoku University say the benefits are even greater when looking specifically at the risk of death from heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
However, the authors said there was no “convincing evidence” that exceeding one hour of muscle-strengthening activity reduced the risk even more.
But they said combining muscle strengthening and cardio could increase the protective benefits.
Japanese experts say their study shows that just half an hour of weight lifting a week can help reduce the risk of early death by 10 percent or more
Keeping fit can reduce the risk of dementia by up to THIRD, new research shows
Keeping in shape in middle age can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by up to a third, a study shows.
Even small gains in heart and lung health can be extremely beneficial.
An analysis of 649,605 people with an average age of 61 found that the most fit were 33% less likely to develop the disease than the least fit.
The study’s author, Dr Eduard Zamrini of the Washington Medical Center in Virginia, said it was “exciting” and “very promising” to see a reduction in the number of cases with elevated fitness levels, as there are currently no adequate treatments ”for Alzheimer’s disease.
He said: “An exciting finding from this study is that as people improve their physical fitness, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease decreases – it was not an all-or-nothing proposal.
“So people can work to make gradual changes and improvements in their physical fitness, and hopefully this will be associated with a associated reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease years later.”
He added: “The idea that you can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by simply increasing your activity is very promising, especially since there are no adequate treatments to prevent or stop the progression of the disease.
“We hope to develop a simple scale that can be customized so that people can see the benefits that even gradual improvements in fitness can bring.”
The researchers examined participants’ “cardiorespiratory fitness,” a measure of how well the body transports oxygen to the muscles and how well they are able to absorb oxygen during exercise.
A limitation of the study is that the participants are predominantly white men, so the results may not be generalized to other populations.
The findings will be presented at the 74th anniversary meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, the world’s largest association of neurologists and neurologists.
The British are already encouraged to take muscle-strengthening activities as part of a regular exercise regimen.
The NHS recommends that people do exercises to strengthen muscles two days a week, in addition to 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking.
Previous research has shown that muscle strengthening is associated with a lower risk of death – a team of Japanese experts wants to know what the potential “optimal dose” may be.
To do this, experts reviewed 16 studies on the potential benefits of strengthening muscles to prolong life.
All academic articles follow adults without previous serious health problems for at least two years.
Most of the studies are from the United States and the rest from the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.
The longest study lasted 25 years, and the sample size varied between 4,000 and nearly 480,000 people.
All studies also reported aerobic or other types of physical activity that participants performed, as well as muscle strengthening activity.
Analysis of the data showed that adults who did at least 30 minutes a week had a 10-20 percent lower risk of death during the study period.
However, no reduction in the risk has been found for some specific cancers, including bowel and kidney cancer, as well as bladder or pancreatic cancer.
When considering diabetes-related deaths, muscle-strengthening activity of up to one hour per week has been found to greatly reduce the risk of death. But the benefits began to wane after the 60-minute mark.
The authors also emphasize that the benefits are greatest when muscle strengthening is combined with 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise.
This reduced the risk of death by 40 percent for any reason, 46 percent for cardiovascular disease and 28 percent for cancer.
The results were published in British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Lead author Dr Haruki Moma says the findings show the potential health benefits of weightlifting and aerobic exercise.
“The combination of muscle strengthening and aerobic activity can provide greater benefits in reducing all causes, cardiovascular disease and overall cancer mortality,” he said.
However, Dr. Moma added that current data are limited and further studies are needed on more diverse populations than those analyzed by the team to increase the certainty of the evidence.
The diversity of the data is one of the limitations in the analysis that the authors acknowledge.
Of the 16 studies, only a few of each are applicable to each of the causes of death analyzed in the review, which means that the findings need to be treated with caution.
Second, the authors also acknowledge that the research is based on participants who report their own levels of exercise, which can be unreliable.
Finally, the authors also point out that most of the studies are from the United States, which means that the findings may not be as applicable to other populations.
Researchers acknowledge certain limitations of their findings, the main of which is that data from only a few studies are pooled for each of the results studied. The included studies also rely on a subjective assessment of muscle strengthening activities.
HOW MUCH EXERCISE DO YOU NEED?
To stay healthy, adults aged 19 to 64 should try to be active every day and should:
- at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as cycling or brisk walking each week, and
- strength exercises 2 or more days a week that work all major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)
Or:
- 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running or playing singles tennis each week and
- strength exercises 2 or more days a week that work on all major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)
Or:
- a combination of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity each week – for example 2 x 30-minute runs plus 30 minutes of brisk walking equals 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity and
- strength exercises 2 or more days a week that work all major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)
A good rule of thumb is that 1 minute of vigorous activity provides the same health benefits as 2 minutes of moderate activity.
One way to do the recommended 150 minutes of weekly physical activity is to do 30 minutes every 5 days each week.
All adults should also interrupt long periods of sitting with light activity.
Source: NHS