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It is never too late to adopt a physically active lifestyle. An active lifestyle at any point in adult life may prolong the lifespan and being consistently physically active is linked to a 30-40 per cent lower risk of death from any cause in later life, says a study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The current recommendation for adults is 150-300 weekly minutes of moderate intensity physical activity, or 75-150 weekly minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity, or a combination of the two.

As most of these recommendations captured measurements of physical activity at only one point in time, which might hide the potential impact of changing patterns during adulthood, the researchers looked for relevant studies that assessed physical activity at two or more points in time, and included in their review 85 studies published up to April 2024, with sample sizes ranging from 357 to 6,572,984 participants.

Consistently active people (32 studies) had around a 30–40% lower risk of dying from any cause, while those who increased their levels of physical activity (21 studies) from below those recommended had a 20-25% lower risk of death from any cause.

The participants who switched from being physically inactive to being active were 22% less likely to die from any cause than those who remained inactive, while those who increased their leisure time physical activity levels were 27% less likely to do so.

Generally, the links observed between a high level of physical activity and a lower risk of death were more evident for cardiovascular disease than for cancer. Compared with participants who were consistently inactive over time, those who were consistently active, overall, or only in their leisure time, were around 40% and 25% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and cancer, respectively.

But being consistently physically active and clocking up more than the recommended maximum weekly amount of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise was associated with only a small additional reduction in risk. Maintaining or increasing physical activity at levels below the recommended weekly amount, however, was associated with appreciable health benefits, indicating that some physical activity is always better than none.

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