🔴Exercise is known to be good for us, but how much exercise and is there something like too much exercise? ⤵️ 🔹Exercise is often seen to have a J-shaped curve with mortality risk - not enough is bad but too much is also harmful (PMID: 26187713) 🔹How much is optimal then?⬇️⬇️ 🔹The guidelines recommend adults get 150-300 min/week of moderate exercise or 75-150 min/week of vigorous exercise 🔹Meeting that vs not is linked to a 36% lower odds of being overweight and 48% lower odds of being obese (PMID: 37773071) 🔹However, exercising more than that is linked to a reduced risk of mortality 🔹A 2022 study saw the lowest risk of mortality at 150-300 min/week of leisurely vigorous physical activity, 300-600 min/week of leisurely moderate physical activity, or a combination of both (PMID: 35876019) 🔹A 2023 review on adults 65 and older found a 40-60% reduction in all-cause mortality risk at 60 MET-hours per week (PMID: 37925162) 1 MET = 3.5 ml/kg/min of VO2 max 10 METs= running at 6 mph or 9.6 km/h To reach 60 MET-hours of physical activity, you can either do 6 hours of 10 METs (35 ml/kg/min), 12 hours at 5 METs (17.5 ml/kg/min) 🔹However, it's important to differentiate between vigorous and moderate physical activity A 2023 systematic review found that the more moderate physical activity the lower your all-cause mortality risk (PMID: 37091937) It even outperformed vigorous activity at high levels (-17% at 650 min/week vs -35% at 900 min/week). 🔹For cardiovascular disease mortality, the more moderate physical activity, the lower the risk (-40% at 900 min/week) For vigorous physical activity, the benefits were maximized at 150-200 min/week (-15%). After that there was a reduction in benefits. 🔹A similar phenomenon is found with resistance training with too much being linked to higher risk At 30-60 min/week, strength training is associated with a 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 18% for CVD events, and 9% for all cancer (PMID: 35228201) However, you see higher risk above 130-140 min/wk 🔹It seems that you don't get progressively more benefits the more vigorous exercise you do – you hit a plateau after 200 min/week but doing less is worse. However, you do keep getting benefits the more moderate exercise you do (900 min/week is better than 200 min/week). 🔹Instead of trying to do more high-intensity exercise, it’s better to keep it between 100-200 min/week and focus on racking up as much moderate physical activity as possible. 🔹Moderate exercise is categorized as 40-60% of aerobic capacity, whereas vigorous exercise is 60-85%