Weekly Strength Training For An Hour Reduces Risk Of Death By 20%

Apr, 2022 - By SMI

Strength training for thirty to sixty minutes every week reported reduces the risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes in particular

Exercising has always proven to be beneficial for our health and to maintain strength of muscle it is important. Adding new insights to all the previous research studying the link between exercising and human health, researchers at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan discovered the link between muscle strength training and reduced risk of death. According to the study published in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicine on February 28, 2022, performing strength training for thirty to sixty minutes can provide significant benefits such as lowering risk of death by 10-20%.

The researchers investigated data of 16 observational studies involving with 4,000 to 480,000 subjects from across the globe. The subjects were adults aging 18 to 97 years without major health issues, and who were under observation for past two years. From the analysis the scientists found that muscle strengthening activity independent of aerobic exercise such as cycling or running was linked reduction of death risk by 10 to 17% from all causes including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, subjects who performed muscle training for 30 to 60 minutes every week exhibited more intense effects with 10 to 20% reduced death risk from all causes and cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

The intriguing finding of the study was that there were no evidence found that showed exercising more than an hour every week lowered these risks any further. These muscle training activities could comprise of using resistance bands, weight lifting, push-ups, squats, sit-ups, and heavy gardening activities such as shoveling and digging. There are some restrictions with the research, however, as the findings of this study rely on subjective assessment of exercise activity. Yet, as per the team, this study gives an important insight in the relation between muscle strength training and reduced risk of death.