Previous research has already suggested that muscle strengthening exercises are beneficial for health and reduce the risk of death, however, it was not known how long it took to practice them to achieve this, until now. And it is that a study carried out by researchers at Kyushu University (Japan) has revealed that doing between 30 and 60 minutes of this type of activity each week could reduce the risk of dying by between 10% and 20%.
Specifically, the results published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine have indicated that muscular training reduces mortality from all causes, from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer -especially lung cancer-, regardless of whether it is exercise type aerobic, or not.
In addition, they found no evidence that doing more than an hour a week of muscle-strengthening activities further reduced risk. The research was carried out with data from 16 observational studies conducted in the United States, which included between 4,000 and 480,000 people between the ages of 18 and 97 and where the maximum study period was 25 years.
Muscular and aerobic exercise, the best combination
The results obtained showed that muscle-strengthening activities, such as lifting weights, training with resistance bands, doing sit-ups, push-ups, squats, as well as intense gardening activities, such as shoveling or digging, were associated with a reduced risk of death
The combination of muscular and aerobic exercise reduces the risk of death from any cause by 40%, heart disease by 46% and cancer by 28%
The researchers also found evidence indicating that the combination of muscle strengthening activities and aerobic exercise is the one that most helped reduce the risk of death from any cause, from cardiovascular diseases and from cancer, specifically in percentages of 40%, 46% and 28%, respectively.
However, the authors have stated that their research has certain limitations, due to the fact that it was based on people living in the United States, and with a subjective evaluation of muscle strengthening activities because they are observational studies, and not clinical trials. “Since the available data is limited, more studies, such as studies focused on a more diverse population, are needed to increase the certainty of the evidence,” they conclude.
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