Could 15 Minutes of Daily Exercise Reduce Mortality Risk?

Fifteen minutes of exercise a day is associated with a 22% decreased risk of death and should be considered a reasonable target for older adults, according to results of a recent study.

“It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment. But less than half of older adults achieve the recommended minimum of 150 minutes moderate intensity or 75 minutes vigorous intensity exercise each week,” the authors said. “We wanted to find out whether lower levels of exercise could be beneficial and even reduce mortality in older adults.”
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For their study, the researchers examined data from 2 cohorts: a French cohort of 1011 participants who were aged 65 years in 2001 and whose cases had been followed for 12 years, and an international cohort of 122,417 participants who had participated in a systematic review and meta-analysis, were aged 60 years, and whose cases had been followed for a mean of 10 years.

Using Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes per week, the researchers measured the participants’ physical activity (1 MET minute per week is equivalent to sitting).

Participants were divided into 4 categories based on their physical activity: inactive, low (1-499 MET minutes), medium (500-999 MET minutes), and high (1000 MET minutes or more).

Overall, there were 88 and 18,122 deaths in the French and international cohorts, respectively. The researchers found that the risk of death was reduced in a dose response relationship as physical activity levels increased. Compared with inactive adults, those with low, medium, and high activity had a 22%, 28%, and 35% lower risk of death, respectively.

“We found that the low level of activity, which is half the recommended amount, was associated with a 22% reduced risk of death in older adults compared with those who were inactive,” they concluded. “This level of activity equates to a 15 minute brisk walk each day.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:
European Society of Cardiology. 15 minutes daily exercise may be reasonable target in older adults [press release]. June 14, 2016. https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Last-5-years/15-minutes-daily-exercise-may-be-reasonable-target-in-older-adults.