Spend five minutes on FitTalk and you’ll think longevity requires cool dips in the morning, copious amounts of peptides, and enough weekly training to qualify as a Navy SEAL. However, the reality is less dramatic. If you want to live longer, recent research from Harvard offers a surprisingly reassuring message: Your weight lifting routine is probably much closer to the ideal of longevity than your algorithm would lead you to believe.
published in British Journal of Sports MedicineThe study compiled data from three groups of about 150,000 adults – most of them middle-aged – aged 30 and over. Compared with people who didn’t lift weights at all, those who logged 90 to 120 minutes a week saw the biggest longevity benefits: 13% lower risk of death from any cause, 19% lower risk of cardiovascular death, and 27% lower risk of death from neurological diseases. It’s just three or four half-hour workouts, or even two 45-minute sessions. Perhaps surprisingly, nothing more appeared to move the needle. After about two hours a week, the longevity benefits plateaued.
Strength training and longevity relationship
Your muscles do more than help you PR your deadlift or fit your sleeves tightly. “Muscle is not just structural tissue; it is your body’s largest endocrine organ,” says Vonda Wright, MDAn orthopedic surgeon and creator of Skeletal Longevity. “Every time you contract a muscle against resistance, it releases signaling molecules called myokines that travel through your bloodstream and reduce systemic inflammation – the root cause of almost every chronic disease of aging.” You can expect better blood sugar control, stronger bones, better metabolic health and then some.
Additionally, resistance training protects against the gradual loss of strength and independence that occurs with aging. “This allows us to interact with our environment more constantly, more comfortably and more efficiently,” he adds. Alex Rothstein, EdD, MS, CSCSExercise physiologist and coordinator of the exercise science program at the New York Institute of Technology.
As for those cardiovascular benefits? The results of the study may be surprising because we think that running on a treadmill or swimming laps is necessary to protect your heart. Yet according to Dr. Wright, long-term resistance training remodels the vascular system, making arteries more elastic and compliant. This ultimately helps manage blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks. “It also reduces visceral fat: the dangerous inflammatory fat that wraps around your organs and increases heart disease,” she adds.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wright says strength training may also protect the brain because working muscles release compounds that stimulate the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Experts call this protein a miracle-gro for your brain because it helps neurons grow and communicate more effectively.
key takeaways
It’s nothing new that lifting weights can help you live a longer, healthier life. What is striking, however, is how little it seems. If you already take the Lyft for half an hour after work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, consider a permission slip to keep it from confusing ‘more’ with ‘better’. According to this study, your ROI starts to decline beyond the 90 to 120 minute range.
But before you watch the watch like a hawk, you should think of the range as a useful benchmark rather than a prescription. Even the researchers recommend interpreting the results with a grain of salt. “Importantly, 90 to 120 minutes should not be interpreted as a strict goal or limit, as we did not have data on specific types of resistance training, intensity and number of sets,” say the study’s co-authors. Yiwen Zhang, PhDPostdoctoral Research Fellow and Edward Giovannucci, MDProfessor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Future research is necessary to focus on these parameters. Nonetheless, there are some things you can keep in mind when creating your own workout routine to promote longevity.
