Healthy living
Exercise and fitness
Get a move on for a longer life
Upping physical activity levels in middle age may lead to a longer life, says Swedish study
Don't hang up your sports shoes just yet, gentlemen. According to the British Medical Journal, a study of men who became more active after the age of 50 showed that, on average, the impact on their lifespan was equivalent to that achieved by giving up smoking - although it appears to take a few years for the lifestyle change to take effect.
Between 1970 and 1973, over 2,000 men living in Uppsala in Sweden completed a survey on how physically active they were in their leisure time and were categorised into low, medium or high activity groups.
At the age of 50, almost half of the men reported a high level of physical activity, equivalent to at least three hours of sports or heavy gardening a week. Just over one third reported medium levels of activity, such as walking and cycling for several hours, and 15 per cent were sedentary during their leisure time.
The men were re-examined at the ages of 60, 70, 77 and 82, and changes in their activity levels were recorded, along with information about body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as whether they smoked and how much or little alcohol they drank.
After taking other risk factors into account, the researchers estimate that men who reported high levels of physical activity from age 50 were expected to live 2.3 years longer than sedentary men and 1.1 years longer than men who reported medium levels of physical activity.
Becoming more physically active prolongs life among middle aged and older men, though there might be a period of 5-10 years before an effect is seen on mortality, write the authors. This effect is the same as giving up smoking. The authors suggest further research is now needed to assess the effect of exercise on middle aged women and on other age groups.
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Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
