Becoming a jack of all trades in the gym might be one of the keys to living a longer, healthier life, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n
Participants who exercised more had a lower risk of early death compared with those who exercised less \u2014\u00a0but those who varied their movement routines the most had a 19 percent lower risk of premature death compared with people who got the same amount of exercise but with little variety.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe takeaway is refreshingly practical: Don\u2019t put all your movement eggs in one basket,\u201d says Mark Kovacs, PhD<\/a>, an exercise physiologist based in Atlanta who has researched longevity and athletic performance, but wasn\u2019t involved in the study. \u201cYou don\u2019t need extreme workouts or complex programming. Simple variety goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n What the Study Found<\/p>\n Researchers looked at data from more than 111,000 healthcare professionals, women and men, who were involved in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study over the course of more than 30 years.<\/p>\n All participants reported their physical activity type and length every couple of years throughout the study period. For each participant, researchers calculated a physical activity variety score,\u00a0based on how many of the following types of exercise they did consistently:<\/p>\n WalkingJoggingRunningBicyclingSwimmingTennis, squash, or racquetballClimbing flights of stairsRowing or calisthenicsWeight training or resistance exercises<\/p>\n After analyzing the interplay between exercise variety and causes of death, researchers found that people with the highest exercise variety score experienced:<\/p>\n 19 percent lower risk of death from any cause, compared with people with the lowest exercise variety, regardless of total time spent exercising13 to 41 percent lower risk of death from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and other causes<\/p>\n \u201cWe were particularly intrigued by the finding that a simple physical activity variety score remained associated with lower mortality after accounting for the total amount of physical activity,\u201d says lead study author Han Han, PhD<\/a>, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Nutrition in Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cThis pattern suggests that regularly engaging in a mix of activity types may confer additional longevity benefits that are not fully captured by total activity volume alone,\u201d Dr. Han says.<\/p>\n How Does Exercise Support Living Longer?Evidence already shows that regular exercise boosts longevity,<\/a> or living a longer, healthier life.<\/p>\n [2]<\/p>\n \u00a0But until now, studies hadn\u2019t looked closely at whether varying up your physical activities has any additional impact on longevity, outside of adding to the total amount of physical activity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat this study adds is a critical new dimension to the exercise-longevity conversation,\u201d says Dr. Kovacs. \u201cWe\u2019ve known for decades that total physical activity is associated with lower mortality, but this research shows that variety itself matters. In other words, longevity is influenced not just by how much you move, but by how many different ways you move.\u201d<\/p>\n The finding that engaging in multiple different physical activities may support living a longer life aligns with previous knowledge on different types of exercise \u2014\u00a0aerobic<\/a>, strength training<\/a>, and balance<\/a> \u2014 having different physical and mental health benefits.<\/p>\n [3]<\/p>\n For future studies, the researchers suggest looking at combinations of different activities and specific health outcomes to identify a potentially optimal mix for longevity.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth noting that physical activity in the study was self-reported, which can introduce some measurement error. While the large sample size analyzed over the course of three decades strengthens confidence in the findings, Kovacs points out that the cohorts were largely composed of white health professionals, which could limit generalizability to the general population.<\/p>\n How to Get More Variety in Your Home WorkoutsFederal guidelines generally recommend that adults get at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week \u2014 including resistance training on at least two of those days.<\/p>\n [4]<\/p>\n The research team still advises aiming for these amounts of physical activity to support overall health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of physical activity is important in its own right and should remain a priority. What we wish to emphasize here is that, when the total amount of activity is held constant, engaging in a greater variety of physical activities, rather than simply relying on a single type alone, may be more beneficial for longevity,\u201d Han says.<\/p>\n