Getting Active Could Extend Your Life by 11 Years

A holistic approach to health is almost always—or dare we say always—the best approach. This includes what you eat, how much you move your body, the amount and quality of your sleep, implementing appropriate tools to manage your stressors and getting enough socialization to combat loneliness. Appropriately treating medical conditions is part of this holistic equation, as well. 

Many studies, however, take one of these aspects and take a deeper look at it to see how it alone may influence health. That’s exactly what researchers did for a study published on November 14, 2024, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, when they looked at the influence of physical activity on life expectancy. Let’s see what they found. 

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers drew their data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 2003-2006. NHANES is a large cohort study that assesses the health and nutrition of people who live in the U.S. For this current study, researchers included 3,817 men and women who were at least 40 years old during 2003-2006. 

Participants wore an accelerometer on their hip for a minimum of 10 hours per day for at least 4 days. An accelerometer is basically a fancy pedometer that tracks most kinds of movement, not just number of steps. Researchers calculated the amount of physical activity for each participant based on the readings from their accelerometers. 

The researchers sorted participants into four equal groups, called quartiles, based on how physically active they were. The quartiles were numbered Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4, with participants in Q1 clocking the least amount of physical activity. Each quartile went up from there, with participants in Q4 clocking the most time engaged in physical activity. 

Researchers also used mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics from the year 2017. Researchers used that data to estimate life expectancies for each quartile based on the statistical relationship between physical activity levels and death rates.

In addition, data from previous well-designed studies was used to increase the accuracy of this study and to help translate results to real life. In doing so, they took the amount of physical activity recorded on the accelerometers and transposed these amounts into minutes walked per day to help people apply the results to their daily lives.

What Did This Study Find?

It’s important to note that in the year 2017, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 78.6 years. This is the baseline upon which the life expectancy comparisons from this study are based. After statistical analyses were run, several findings surfaced. Regarding life expectancy, the researchers estimated that:

• If all Americans aged 40 and above were as active as those in Q1 (the least active), there would be a loss in life expectancy of almost 5.8 years, with the average length of life shortening to 73 years.
• Those in Q2 and Q3 would live an extra 0.6 and 3.5 years respectively, corresponding to ages 79.2 and 82 years from the time of birth. 
• If all Americans over the age of 40 were as active as the top 25%—corresponding to Q4—American life expectancy at birth would be 83.7 years, which is an increase of 5.3 years. 

How much physical activity is required to gain these benefits? Researchers went deeper and found that:

• People who were the most active (Q4), moved about the equivalent of 160 minutes of walking per day at about 3 mph, which is a moderate pace.
• For those in Q1 to increase their activity to Q4 levels, they could add about 112 minutes of walking at a moderate pace to their day. By doing so, researchers estimate that individuals in Q1 may increase their life expectancy by almost 11 years. 
• Individuals in Q2 and Q3 would also enjoy an increase in life expectancy by increasing their physical activity to Q4 levels—but with smaller gains, since they’re already more active than those in Q1.

Researchers even went so far as to break down how many hours can be added to life expectancy for each additional hour of walking per day. For someone in that least active quartile, researchers estimate that an hour-long walk could add six hours to their life expectancy—so just remember that even the little things can add up to big benefits.

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

There were a lot of numbers thrown at you with this study—so how does this all relate to real life? In short—move more if you want to live a longer life. 

“This study was great to translate to the average person because it looked at the sum of movement throughout the day, rather than formal exercise,” says Sarah Pflugradt, Ph.D., RD, performance nutritionist and owner of Sarah Pflugradt Nutrition. “I find it much less intimidating to stress the importance of movement for health, rather than feeling the need to adhere to strict guidelines—which, when not reached, can feel like failure.”

Pflugradt points out that another positive aspect of this study is that researchers computed the additional years of life that could potentially be added based on walking at a moderate, conversational speed. “For most adults, this is an achievable activity and can be done with a friend,” says Pflugradt.

Besides actually going for a walk, there are other ways to incorporate physical activity into your day to decrease your time being sedentary, says Pflugradt, who recommends the following five ideas to get you started. 

• Take the stairs. Skip the elevator and take the stairs if they’re available and you feel safe taking them. If it’s an escalator, walk up it instead of riding it. If you have stairs at home, purposely become less efficient so that you have to use them more often. For example, instead of carrying the whole basket full of laundry, take smaller armfuls of clothing up so that you have to make more trips. One way taking more stairs each day may improve longevity is by reducing your risk of heart disease. 
• Park further from the store entry. Instead of driving around the parking lot looking for the closest spot, park at the furthest spot from the store and walk from there. Not only will you get more movement, but you won’t be wasting your time and energy driving around the parking lot, so your stress level will be lower, too. 
• Ride a bike rather than drive. While this one is both location and weather-dependent, the point is to look for opportunities to move more while going from one location to another. For example, if you’re going to shop in your local downtown area, park your car in a central location and walk to the shops rather than driving to each one. If you live in an area where you can ride your bike or walk to work, go for it!
• Get a standup desk and walking pad. Now that they’ve been around for a while, standup desks and walking pads—a small treadmill that fits under your desk—are more reasonably priced, making them financially accessible to more people. And there is evidence that reducing your sitting time has multiple health benefits, including reducing blood pressure. If you must sit, consider using a stability ball as your desk chair, which allows you to move more than sitting stationary in a traditional office chair—you could even get a core workout while you work. Or use an ergometer under your desk, which is essentially bike pedals on a small base. If none of these suits your situation, take regular movement breaks as often as you can throughout the day, even if it’s just to the water cooler and back or marching in place.
• Take your dog on more walks. If you’ve got a dog, you know that they would probably love more walks—which would benefit both of you. If you don’t own a dog, offer to take your neighbor’s dog for a walk. Better yet, ask your neighbor if you can walk with them and their dog, so you all benefit from it. If dogs aren’t a possibility, take a friend for a daily (or almost daily) walk. Knowing that someone else is counting on you can help motivate both of you.

The Bottom Line

This study suggests that by adding more movement to your day, you could potentially add more years to your life. According to this study, this may translate to up to 11 additional years if you’re currently physically inactive and decide to tack on 160 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. But even a little more movement each day can be beneficial, and there are simple ways to add more movement to your day, from taking the stairs more often to parking further from the store. 

Plus, there’s another benefit that may come from moving more. “What speaks to me is not only the additional life expectancy conclusions from this study,” says Pflugradt, “but the likelihood of increased quality of years that comes with increased movement as we age.” 

After all, what good is a longer life if you’re not able to enjoy it?