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Right now, the current average life expectancy for American men clocks in at 74.8 years. But not everyone makes it that far—and some guys live a lot longer. While certainly no one has complete control over how long they’ll live, there’s actually a lot you can do to add a few more decades to your lifespan. It’s nothing super weird or expensive either: The cornerstones of increasing your lifespan are still maintaining a healthy diet and exercising.
How much exercise, exactly? A new study published in the journal Circulation set out to answer that. Taking into account 116,221 U.S. adults and repeated 15 times over the course of 30 years, researchers concluded that the sweet spot was between 300 and 599 minutes of exercise a week, which is four times more than the current physical activity guidelines. That’s a pretty major jump.
Is spending between 5 and 10 hours a week exercising really what it takes to max out your lifespan? Doctors who study longevity have some thoughts, including the types of workouts you should do if you want to live longer.
The Verdict On How Much Exercise It Takes To Live LongerMonisha Bhanote, MD, a triple-board certified physician, longevity expert, and author of The Anatomy of Wellbeing, says the Circulation study makes clear what numerous past studies have already shown: The body is meant to move. She explains that there are several reasons why exercise is linked to longevity. The first is that it improves mitochondrial function.
“Mitochondria are inside every cell and are responsible for energy production. As we age, the number of mitochondria decreases. That’s why when people age, they often have less energy, more muscle weakness, and a slower metabolism,” Dr. Bhanote explains. Exercise, she says, stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis, or in non-science speak, produces more mitochondria. “That means cells function better, so there is less disease and metabolism is improved, which slows aging,” Dr. Bhanote says.
Andy Galpin, PhD, the executive director of the Human Performance Center at Parker University and host of the podcast Perform with Dr. Andy Galpin, says that the other big reasons why exercise improves lifespan are because it improves cardiovascular health (key, since heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S.) and improves body mass index (BMI). Despite all the controversy surrounding BMI as an appropriate measure of health, Dr. Galpin says it’s hard to deny the many scientific studies showing that obesity is a risk factor for many diseases and an all-cause mortality risk.
There’s no doubt that exercise and longevity are related, but how much should you be doing? Are the tried-and-true recommendations of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise or 75 to 100 minutes of vigorous exercise a week no longer enough? Sanjeev Goel, MD, the CEO of Peak Human, an anti-aging and regenerative medicine practice, says that it’s important to remember that only 24% of adults in the U.S. are meeting the current exercise guidelines at all and that going from no exercise to any exercise is what has the most profound impact on health.
“When looking at the study, even though it’s a big jump from the current exercise guidelines, the impact isn’t that big. The increase from following the current exercise guidelines to doing 300 minutes of vigorous exercise a week was only a 4% decrease in mortality. That’s small compared to the 25% decrease in mortality that happens when you go from not exercising at all to meeting the minimum exercise guidelines,” he says.
Dr. Goel says that for people who are already meeting the current exercise guidelines, increasing how much they work out will benefit their health (as the study shows), but he says what’s most important is to have an exercise routine that’s realistic enough to maintain. If you set a goal of working out for between 5 to 10 hours a week but you don’t know how to actually make that happen, you won’t reap any of the benefits.
On top of that, more isn’t always better when it comes to exercise. “There is a U-shaped curve in terms of how much physical activity is beneficial,” Dr. Goel says. “When we’re looking at longevity, you want to put a certain amount of stress on the body so that the body adapts and becomes more resilient. But putting too much stress on the body leads to a huge release of cortisol, which can cause an earlier death.”
How To Work Out For LongevityAll three longevity experts say that it’s not just how much exercise you do that matters; the type of physical activity matters too. They all agree that the ideal workout routine for longevity is a mix of vigorous intensity exercise, moderate intensity exercise, strength training, and rest—all of which is in addition to non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which are calories burned through daily activities that aren’t purposeful physical exercise.
“NEAT is actually what helps people manage their overall body composition the most,” Dr. Galpin says, saying that examples of this type of physical activity include pacing while on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, doing household chores, gardening, and playing with your kids or pets. When you consider Blue Zones, or regions in the world where people live the longest, this makes sense. They aren’t spending 10 hours sedentary at a computer and then doing an intense 45 minute workout to make up for it; movement is incorporated throughout their day.
In terms of both vigorous intensity exercise and moderate intensity exercise, all three experts say that this applies primarily to cardio-based workouts. During moderate-intensity exercise, you should be able to still maintain a conversation, if you wanted to. During vigorous-intensity exercise, talking would be close to impossible—it’s an all-out effort. Dr. Goel says that both levels of intensity benefit cardiovascular health in different ways. Moderate intensity exercise strengthens the heart muscle, improves blood circulation, reduces inflammation, reduces blood pressure, and reduces visceral fat. Vigorous intensity exercise improves V02 max (a measure of aerobic capacity and how efficiently the body can use oxygen), which is an important longevity marker. All three experts say there isn’t an exact number of minutes a week a workout should be moderate versus vigorous, but it would be a good idea to incorporate both, whether it’s during the same workout or on different days of the week.
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While many people recognize that strength training is important for maintaining muscle and bone health, Dr. Galpin says that a lot of people don’t realize that it’s important for longevity too, particularly the healthspan aspect of longevity, aka the number of healthy, functional years someone lives. “Healthspan is predicted in large part by your strength. For example, there’s a connection between grip strength and longevity,” Dr. Galpin says. Research shows a connection between strength training and a decreased risk for chronic illnesses. Strength training decreases inflammation while also improving insulin sensitivity, which supports a healthy metabolism.
Rest and recovery shouldn’t be overlooked either. “Recovery practices aren’t talked about enough but the body needs it at a cellular level,” Dr. Bhanote says. She says that this includes getting consistently good sleep as well as activities such as restorative yoga and stretching, which help improve flexibility and balance. “This is really important for maintaining mobility as we age,” she says.
With all of this in mind, unless you’re working out for more than 10 hours a week, increasing your physical activity is only going to benefit you—especially if you switch up the type of exercise you do.
But what’s most important is to not do nothing. Any exercise is better than none at all. If you’re moving your body, you’re already benefiting. Even if all you’re doing is taking a nice long walk.
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