- Researchers report that vigorous physical activity accounts for only 4% of adults waking time while sedentary behavior accounts for 60%.
- They say that even light physical activity can increase the odds of healthy aging.
- They add that adequate sleep can also improve aging and longevity.
Getting enough sleep and doing moderate-to-vigorous exercise can help with healthy aging, according to a
The study’s recommendations may sound like common sense, but the research adds more weight to the idea that a combination of movement and good sleep, even into later years, helps make for a longer, healthier life.
The study authors said more vigorous physical activity is associated with increased odds of healthy aging.
They added that sleep duration has an inverted U-shaped association with healthy aging, with seven hours of daily sleep associated with the highest odds of healthy aging.
However, they caution that in modern society, vigorous physical activity accounts for only about 4% of adults’ waking time whereas sedentary behavior occupies approximately 60% of adults’ waking time and has significantly increased over time.
The cohort study looked at 45,176 females from the ongoing Nurses Health Study, which started in 1976 and is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The study examined nurses 50 years and older who didn’t have major chronic disease in 1992. Scientists followed up with them for 20 years. The data was analyzed from January to May 2022.
The scientists defined healthy aging as living to at least 70 while maintaining four health domains (mental health, physical function, no major chronic diseases, and no impairment in subjective memory).
The researchers used an isotemporal (in the same time frame) substitution model to evaluate the potential impact on healthy aging by replacing one hour of one behavior with the equivalent duration of another.
The mean age of subjects was 59 years, with a range of 50 to…
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