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Playing sports provides immediate benefits, such as physical and mental well-being, socialization and personal challenge, but it is also an investment in future health, contributing to a healthy and active life in maturity.
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A recent study has shown that although it is important to increase the volume of physical activity, the intensity of exercise has a greater impact on reducing mortality risk.
Exercising at a higher intensity offers significant longevity benefits. -
It is more effective to practice short episodes of intense activity than to accumulate long hours of moderate exercise.
A regular program that includes intense training sessions can improve health and prolong life, making it essential to vary the intensity of physical efforts.
Oneway to group all the reasons for running and sports into two large sets would arrange them into “short-term” and “long-term.”
In the first are physical and mental well-being, weight control, the pleasure of doing it with other people, personal challenge and the desire to compete.
In the second are the benefits that are reaped over time, like an investment that matures by prolonged accumulation of capital (and especially of the interest accrued): in other words, you do sports to better live the mature age.
In short, if you want to have the prospect of being able to play with your grandchildren, travel, and limit or avoid hospital visits as much as possible, movement practiced over decades is the best medicine, and certainly the most natural.
With this in mind, wondering what kind of exercise is the most effective in achieving these future benefits is not futile, quite the contrary.
As is often the case, fortunately, science answers.
Let’s talk longevity: training volume and intensity compared
A newly published study explores the link between physical activity and longevity, focusing on two key aspects: volume and intensity.
It is first important to specify the difference between the former and the latter: volume refers to the total amount of movement performed during the day; intensity measures how vigorously physical activity is performed.
The results of this research provide new insights into how physical activity can influence mortality risk and, therefore, longevity.
The research
The research is based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(NHANES), collected between 2011 and 2014.
Over 7500 adults (7518, to be precise), all over the age of 20, participated.
Wearing wrist accelerometers, they allowed researchers to monitor their daily physical activity in detail.
The average age of the sample was 49 years, and participants were followed for a period during which information was collected on their exercise habits and its impact on mortality risk.
Which one matters more between intensity and volume?
We already know you want the answer: should you exercise more or more intensely, with the understanding that it is still good to do so and that you are free to do as you like?
Analysis of the data showed that intensity of physical activity has a greater positive impact on mortality risk than total volume of movement.
The researchers observed that an increase in the intensity gradient, that is, the frequency and duration of the most vigorous activities, significantly reduced mortality risk.
In other words, intense exercise may offer greater health benefits than high amounts of physical activity but less vigorous.
If you’re someone who works out a lot, you’re not doing it wrong, mind you, and you’ll still reap countless benefits: in fact, the volume of physical activity also has a positive impact, although less pronounced than intensity.
In fact, an increase in volume reduced the risk of mortality by 14 percent.
This means that although simply increasing the amount of daily activity is beneficial, it is the intensity with which it is done that determines the greatest health and longevity benefits.
The importance of short episodes of intense activity
What does this study basically tell us?
That it is not necessary to accumulate many hours of moderate physical activity to reduce the risk of mortality, but that it is more effective to exercise while also practicing intense physical activity, preferably by adhering to a personalized and regular schedule.
It is not superfluous to point out that doing intense or very intense physical activity sporadically is more harmful than not doing it at all because it subjects the physique to stress for which it is not prepared.
It is like running a marathon without any preparation: it is inevitable that your body will rebel, and it is very likely that you will see the finish line only in photographs.
In short, if you are a person who trains regularly but without particularly varying the intensity of the efforts you make, practicing more intense sessions will only benefit you, then extending the benefit to the longevity you will enjoy in, we hope, many, many years.
Finally, if you are a person who likes to move but does not have much time to do so, this study can reassure you of the effectiveness of the training you are able to practice anyway.
As long as it is at a certain intensity.