Moving more = living longer (and better)

The largest study to date of cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy people found that moving more is linked to living longer.  The Swedish study included 316,137 adults aged 18-74 years old who had their first occupational health screening between 1995 and 2015.

Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using a submaximal cycle test and expressed as maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) in ml/min/kg body weight.  The individuals were followed between 1995 and 2015 and during that time data was recorded on all-cause mortality and first time cardiovascular events, both fatal and non fatal including infarction, angina pectoris and ischaemic stroke. 

The study found that the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events fell by 2.8% and 3.2% respectively with each millimetre increase in VO2 max.  “It is particularly important to note that an increase in fitness was beneficial regardless of the starting point, this suggests that people with lower levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have the most to gain from boosting their fitness,” said Dr Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm.