Saed News: Results of a new study showed that a combination of high aerobic activity and strength training may be the best option for reducing a person’s risk of death from any disease.
According to SAEDNEWS, being physically active is associated with a longer and healthier life, but what type of exercise is best?
Should you focus on aerobic exercises such as walking or running, or strength training with weights or bodyweight exercises like Pilates? And how many minutes of each should be done per week?
A new study recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine helps answer these questions.
Researchers found that a combination of high aerobic activity (along with 60 to 119 minutes of strength training per week) can be an excellent choice for reducing the risk of death from any cause.
The study also found that doing 90 to 120 minutes of strength training per week alone is associated with a 13% reduction in the risk of death from any cause.
In addition, this level of weekly strength training is associated with a 19% reduction in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 27% reduction in the risk of death from neurological diseases.
Edward Giovannucci, physician, nutritionist, and epidemiologist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and lead author of the study, says that the benefits of aerobic activity for longevity have already been well established. What has been less clear is how strength training relates to long-term mortality risk, especially in different volumes and in combination with aerobic exercise.
He explains that for cardiovascular mortality, the findings are generally consistent with previous studies showing that strength training is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, especially heart attack. For neurological disease mortality, increasing evidence suggests that strength training may help preserve cognitive function.
Dr. Yiwon Zhang, the first author of the study, says aerobic exercise is generally associated with improved hemodynamics, lipid profile, and cardiorespiratory fitness, while strength training may improve glucose metabolism, body composition, and muscle strength.
She adds that some randomized trials in patients with coronary artery disease have also shown that combining aerobic and strength training leads to greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition.
