When it comes to your health, doing “just enough” according to sorry governmental recommendations, including exercise and fruits and vegetable intakes, is simply not enough. Recent study published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation is case in point using exercise levels.

Current recommendations from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans is 150-300 minutes/week of moderate physical activity or 75-150 minutes/week of vigorous physical activity. However the study found further improvements on one’s health when one goes above and beyond the recommendations.

The study had the researchers analyze mortality data and medical records for over 100,00 adults from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professional Follow-up Study from 1988 to 2018. In the 30 year follow up, the average age was 66 years old and average BMI was 26 kg/m2. As many know, these two studies require participants to complete validated questionnaires including self-reported leisure-time physical activity as well as dietary information, alcohol and cigarette use, illnesses, etc that were updated and expanded every two years.

Several results came to light from the researchers’ investigations.

For those who met the guidelines, regarding moderate physical activity, they decreased their cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality by 22-25% and non-CVD mortality by 19-20%. The overall risk of death from all-causes was decrease by 20-21%. In regards to vigorous physical activity, they saw a 31% lower risk of CVD mortality and a 15% lower risk of non-CVD related death. The overall risk of death was decreased by 19% from all causes.

Those who exceeded the recommendations found further benefits:

Participants who performed 2-4 times the recommended level for vigorous physical activity found themselves with a 27-33% lower risk of CVD mortality and 19% non-CVD mortality. Their overarching benefit was a 21-23% lower risk of death from all-causes.

For those who performed 2-4 times the recommended amount of moderate physical activity had a 28-38% lower CVD mortality risk and 25-27% non-CVD mortality risk. Overall, this group of people experienced a 26-31% lower risk of mortality from all-causes.

Additionally, no harmful health effects were found for people exceeded the minimum activity levels. However, they also found no further health benefits at exceeding four times the recommended activity levels.

So while sticking to “official recommendations” is good for your health, from a public health standpoint, is just to get your sorry, lazy ass off your couch to get physically active for your own benefits. However, if one truly wants even better health, they must go beyond the current recommendations. (of course, don’t kill yourself by overexercising your ability in one sitting).

DH Lee et al. Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort of US adults. Circulation. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162