Variety’s the spice of a long life

You don’t have to head to the gym: Things we do each day all add up to a healthier life, says Bryan Hubbard

Yes, we get it. Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but if even the thought of donning the Lycra and heading for the gym exhausts you, we have some good news.

Instead of thinking exercise, think activity and movement: the everyday things you do such as climbing the stairs, gardening or walking down to the shops.

These count too, a new study from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health has concluded.  In fact, the more activities like these you do each week, the less likely you are to die from heart disease or cancer.¹

The key is in the variety of activities. Those who do a lot of different activities each week have the lowest risk of early death—just as long as they do them for quite a few years. For more than 30 years, the researchers tracked the health and activity levels of 111,373 people, including 70,725 women and 40,648 men, during which time 38,847 people died: 9,901 from cardiovascular disease, 10,719 from cancer and 3,159 from respiratory disease.

Compared with the least active, the most active were 19 percent less likely to die prematurely from any cause. For specific health problems such as heart disease or cancer, the protective effect ranged from 13 to 41 percent.

Of course, it could all be self-fulfilling, the researchers admit. People who are more active are also less likely to smoke or drink excessively in the first place. They’re also less likely to be overweight or obese and probably eat a healthy diet.

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