30 minutes of a muscle-strengthening activity like lifting weight, doing pushups, or gardening every week may help lower the risk of death from any cause by much as a fifth.
This was recently announced by a new global study analysis that took three decades.
The study emphasizes the importance of exercises that boost the muscles, mostly because of their advantages for the musculoskeletal system.
Research in the past has linked this activity with a lower chance of death, but until now, experts weren’t sure about the optimal duration.
How Did the Researchers Come to this Conclusion?
In order to discover more about the best duration, Japanese researchers checked databases for studies that involved adults without any serious health problems that were tracked closely for two years.
In the final analysis, there were 16 studies, the earliest of which were released in 2012. Most of these studies were conducted in the US, but also in Scotland, England, Japan, and Australia.
The maximum period of tracking lasted 25 years.
According to the analysis, the scientists from Japan concluded that 30 to 60 minutes of muscle-strengthening activities done weekly contributes to between 10 and 20 percent of a lower risk of death from any cause, including cancer and cardiovascular illness.
The results are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. However, these findings were independent of aerobic workouts.
The analysis pointed to a J-shaped curve for most of the outcomes, without conclusive data that more than an hour per week of exercises for muscle strengthening lowered the risk additionally.
What Are the Best Activities to Strengthen Your Muscles?
Muscle-strengthening activities that can be practiced are carrying shopping bags, doing yoga and pilates, weight lifting, resistance bands, tai chi, as well as heavy gardening that will involve shoveling and digging.
Adults are advised to do these activities at least two days per week, but also 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week. When they do both of these on a regular basis, the scientists concluded that the benefits are the highest.
The researchers admit limitations to their findings (the data from only a few studies was taken for each of the studied outcomes) and emphasize that more research is necessary, including focusing on a diverse population so that the findings are strengthened additionally.
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