We cannot stress enough how essential regular exercise is for health, both physical and mental. Science confirms it with concrete conclusions:one hour of sport a week is enough to keep depression at bay, while 20 minutes of walking a day reduces the risk of heart attack. And who says better form, says assured longevity. Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands claims that one hour of physical activity per day increases the chances of having a record lifespan of reaching 90 years. The researchers thus looked at the profiles of 120,000 men and women, collected in 1986. Among them, they selected 4,161 male cases and 3,646 female cases, the participants being aged 68 to 70 at the time. All provided information about their daily physical activity (walking their dog, gardening, exercises at home, bike rides, etc.), their height, their weight at the dawn of their 70 springs, but also their height and their weight at age 20. According to their answers, the participants were divided into 4 categories:those who do less than 30 minutes of physical activity per day, those who do between 30 and 60 minutes, between 60 and 90 minutes, and finally more than 90 minutes.
They were then followed over several years to determine what proportion reached the age of 90. Of the 7,807 people, 944 women and 433 became nonagenarians. Researchers found that women who exercised between 30 and 60 minutes a day were 21% more likely than those who exercised less than 30 minutes to live to their 90s. As for men, those who exercised 90 minutes a day were 39% more likely than those who exercised only 30 minutes to reach their 90th birthday. Each half hour of additional activity per day increased by 5% the chances of living in their nineties. If these discoveries seem quite logical, it should still be noted that factors that may have influenced the life expectancy of each other, such as the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, were not taken into account. into account. If getting into sport was one of your resolutions for 2019, we encourage you not to give up (or to get started once and for all if you missed the boat). Courage!
