A recent study found that people who regularly did strength training had a lower risk of dying early, even without spending hours in the gym.
The researchers analyzed data from three large, long-running U.S. studies involving nearly 150,000 nurses and other health professionals.
Participants reported their strength training and aerobic exercise habits every few years, allowing researchers to compare exercise patterns with mortality over as many as 30 years.
During that time, nearly 36,000 participants died.
The Sweet Spot for Strength Training
The researchers found that about 90 to 120 minutes of strength training per week was associated with the greatest benefit.
People who spent that amount of time lifting weights or doing other resistance exercises had about a 13% lower risk of death from any cause compared with people who did no strength training.
The association was even stronger for certain causes of death.
Working out with weights was linked to a 19% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke.
It was also associated with a 27% lower risk of death from neurological conditions, particularly dementia.
Interestingly, the benefits didn’t continue increasing indefinitely.
Once people reached two hours of weight training per week, doing more wasn’t associated with additional reductions in overall mortality.
That suggests you don’t necessarily need to spend hours lifting weights every week to potentially gain important health benefits.
The lowest overall risk was found among people who combined strength training with aerobic exercise.
Getting around 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week was independently associated with a 26% to 43% lower risk of death.
But keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that more than 150 minutes/week couldn’t be better for some individuals.
Combining the 150 minutes with one to two hours of strength training was associated with an overall reduction in early mortality of about 45%.
Muscle Does More Than Move Your Body
After you eat, much of the glucose in your bloodstream is taken up by muscle.
Insulin helps direct that glucose into muscle cells, where it can either be used for energy or stored as glycogen.
Having more healthy muscle can therefore help the body regulate blood sugar.
That may help explain why maintaining muscle is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, which itself increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death.
Also, when muscles contract, they release chemical messengers called myokines into the bloodstream.
These substances can influence inflammation and communicate with other parts of the body, including the liver, fat tissue, blood vessels, bones and brain.
Regular muscle activity may therefore create benefits throughout the body rather than affecting muscles alone.
Strength and Heart Health
Over time, a strength based regimen can help lower blood pressure and maintain healthier, more flexible arteries.
Muscular strength itself is also considered an important indicator of overall health.
Grip strength is commonly used as a simple measure of general muscle strength, and research has found that weaker grip strength is associated with a higher risk of premature death.
Stronger muscles can also make everyday life easier as we get older.
Better strength can reduce the risk of falls and fractures, preserve independence and help protect against frailty.
Thus, lifting weights isn’t always about vanity, as some critics like to point out.
Could Strength Training Protect the Brain?
The connection between resistance exercise and brain health is less established, but researchers have several possible explanations.
Training with weights appears to produce positive changes in the brain.
Improvements in blood sugar regulation and cardiovascular health may also reduce some of the factors associated with dementia.
That could potentially help explain why the study found such a large association between strength training and lower mortality from neurological conditions.
The Study Doesn’t Nail Cause and Effect
The research was observational, meaning it found a relationship between strength training and longevity but couldn’t show that lifting weights directly caused people to live longer.
But certainly, these results can’t be ignored, either.
One thing is for sure: A weightlifting program will clearly help preserve mobility well into older age. This absolutely cannot be denied.
And mobility has been shown by many studies to be linked to more independence and longevity.
