There are different lines of thinking about what the right amount of sporting activity is that should always be done weekly to have real health benefits. WHO, the World Health Organization, recommends “at least 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity plus major muscle group strengthening exercises” to be done in total “at least twice a week”, but many runners do more than that. Other studies have concluded that excessive exercise can harm health, particularly the cardiovascular system.
Those who are afraid of not doing enough physical activity, or those who believe they are exercising excessively, can confront the results of a new study published in Circulation. The research followed more than 115,000 U.S. sports adults during 30 years of continuous exercise and found that those who practiced more than twice (and up to four times) the recommended amount of exercise per week lived longer.
Interestingly, the study also found that 600 minutes (10 hours) of exercise per week is exactly the point that marks the lowest mortality rates. An amount of time spent on superior sport did not result in a further reduction in the risk of death and, more importantly for runners who train more, no negative effects were found – particularly for the heart – associated with very high exercise volumes.
“This discovery may lessen all concerns related to the potential harmful effects of engaging in high levels of physical activity seen in several previous studies,” said Dong Hoon Lee, research associate in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. of Boston.
The researchers found that 300-600 minutes of moderate exercise per week carries a risk of mortality (for any type of cause) 26-31% lower, while people who did 150-300 minutes of strenuous physical activity per week had a 21-23% lower risk. On the other hand, those who follow current WHO guidelines, which require a minimum of 75 minutes of strenuous physical activity per week, have only a 19 percent lower risk of mortality.