What Are The Long Term Physical Health Benefits Of Exercise?

Exercise is often regarded as the cornerstone of good health. Whether it’s a brisk walk, a high-intensity workout, or yoga, engaging in regular physical activity has a profound impact on your body. However, the true benefits of exercise extend far beyond short-term gains such as improved energy levels, weight management, or enhanced muscle tone. Over time, consistent exercise leads to long-term physical health benefits that can significantly improve your quality of life, extend longevity, and reduce the risk of various chronic diseases.

In this article, we’ll explore the extensive long-term physical health benefits of regular exercise, how it influences various body systems, and answer some frequently asked questions about maintaining an active lifestyle. Finally, we will provide a conclusion and key takeaways to help you understand the profound impact exercise has on your long-term health.

Key Takeaways

• Regular exercise offers a wide range of long-term physical health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, stronger bones and muscles, better metabolic function, and enhanced respiratory capacity.
• Exercise is essential for preventing and managing chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
• Weight-bearing and strength exercises help maintain muscle mass, bone density, and joint health as you age.
• Physical activity promotes longevity by improving overall health and reducing the risk of age-related decline.
• Consistency is key. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week and incorporate muscle-strengthening exercises to maximize long-term health benefits.

How Exercise Impacts Your Long-Term Physical Health

The physical health benefits of exercise are broad and far-reaching. Let’s take a deeper look at the major long-term health benefits exercise provides.

Cardiovascular Health Improvement

Regular exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve and maintain cardiovascular health. The heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscle in the body, it becomes stronger and more efficient with regular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise, such as running, cycling, swimming, and even brisk walking, helps to lower blood pressure, reduce bad cholesterol (LDL), and increase good cholesterol (HDL).

Long-term aerobic exercise helps prevent a variety of heart-related conditions, including heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Additionally, it helps regulate blood sugar levels and reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. By improving blood flow and the function of blood vessels, exercise helps reduce the overall strain on your cardiovascular system.

Improved Bone Density and Joint Health

One of the lesser-known benefits of exercise is its positive impact on bone health. Weight-bearing exercises, such as running, walking, weightlifting, and dancing, stimulate bone growth and increase bone density. This helps prevent osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become brittle and fragile over time.

In addition to strengthening bones, exercise also improves joint health by promoting the flow of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints and allows for smoother movement. Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of arthritis and other joint-related issues by maintaining or improving flexibility, mobility, and overall joint function.

Muscle Mass and Strength Maintenance

As we age, muscle mass naturally declines—a process known as sarcopenia. This loss of muscle strength can make everyday activities more challenging and increase the risk of falls and injuries. However, regular exercise, particularly resistance training (such as weightlifting or bodyweight exercises), helps preserve and even increase muscle mass and strength.

By maintaining or building muscle over time, you improve your ability to perform daily tasks, enhance your metabolism, and reduce the risk of injury. Strong muscles also help stabilize the body and protect your joints, reducing wear and tear on your skeletal system.

Weight Management and Fat Loss

Regular exercise is crucial for long-term weight management. Not only does physical activity help burn calories, but it also boosts your metabolism, which helps maintain a healthy body weight. Cardiovascular exercises such as running, cycling, or swimming, combined with strength training, can significantly reduce body fat, promote lean muscle growth, and help you achieve a healthy body composition.

Moreover, exercise plays a role in regulating hormones associated with hunger and satiety, making it easier to control appetite and prevent overeating. By fostering a healthy relationship with food and exercise, you can maintain a sustainable weight and avoid the adverse effects of obesity, such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Improved Respiratory Function

Aerobic exercises, such as running, swimming, and cycling, improve lung capacity and respiratory efficiency. Over time, regular physical activity strengthens the muscles involved in breathing, increases the flow of oxygen to tissues, and helps your body utilize oxygen more efficiently. As a result, individuals who engage in regular exercise typically experience fewer episodes of shortness of breath, less fatigue, and greater stamina.

This improved respiratory function also reduces the risk of chronic respiratory conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, and can enhance your overall endurance.

Improved Metabolic Health

Exercise plays a key role in improving metabolic health, especially in terms of managing insulin sensitivity. With regular physical activity, your muscles become more efficient at using glucose for energy, which can help prevent insulin resistance, a key factor in the development of type 2 diabetes. Additionally, regular exercise reduces visceral fat (fat stored around internal organs), which is linked to metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Exercise helps balance important metabolic hormones, such as insulin, cortisol, and growth hormone, leading to better overall metabolic function. By maintaining a healthy metabolic rate, you can optimize your body’s ability to process and utilize nutrients, leading to better long-term health outcomes.

Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases

Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers, are leading causes of death globally. One of the most powerful ways to prevent and manage these diseases is through regular physical activity. Exercise helps lower the risk of developing chronic conditions by improving factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar regulation, and inflammation.

Studies show that people who engage in regular physical activity are at a significantly lower risk for conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even certain cancers (such as colon and breast cancer). Moreover, exercise can help manage and alleviate symptoms of existing chronic diseases, allowing individuals to lead healthier and more active lives.

Longevity and Aging

Regular physical activity has been consistently linked with a longer lifespan. People who exercise regularly tend to live longer, healthier lives compared to sedentary individuals. This is partly due to the ability of exercise to prevent or delay the onset of chronic diseases and enhance overall physical health.

Exercise also promotes healthy aging by improving cognitive function, reducing the risk of dementia, and improving mood. It helps reduce the physical signs of aging, such as decreased muscle mass, lower bone density, and reduced flexibility, allowing individuals to maintain mobility and independence in later years.

What counts?

To stay healthy, the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines, on GOV.UK, state that adults should try to be active every day and aim to do at least 150 minutes of physical activity over a week, through a variety of activities.

For most people, the easiest way to get moving is to make activity part of everyday life, like walking for health or cycling instead of using the car to get around. However, the more you do, the better, and taking part in activities such as sports and exercise will make you even healthier.

For any type of activity to benefit your health, you need to be moving quick enough to raise your heart rate, breathe faster and feel warmer. This level of effort is called moderate intensity activity. If you’re working at a moderate intensity you should still be able to talk but you won’t be able to sing the words to a song.

An activity where you have to work even harder is called vigorous intensity activity. There is substantial evidence that vigorous activity can bring health benefits over and above that of moderate activity.

You can tell when it’s vigorous activity because you’re breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate has gone up quite a bit. If you’re working at this level, you won’t be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.

A modern problem

People are less active nowadays, partly because technology has made our lives easier. We drive cars or take public transport. Machines wash our clothes. We entertain ourselves in front of a TV or computer screen.

Fewer people are doing manual work, and most of us have jobs that involve little physical effort. Work, household chores, shopping and other necessary activities are far less demanding than for previous generations.

We move around less and burn off less energy than people used to. Research suggests that many adults spend more than 7 hours a day sitting down, at work, on transport or in their leisure time. People aged over 65 spend 10 hours or more each day sitting or lying down, making them the most sedentary age group.

Sedentary lifestyles

Inactivity is described by the Department of Health and Social Care as a “silent killer”. Evidence is emerging that sedentary behaviour, such as sitting or lying down for long periods, is bad for your health.

Not only should you try to raise your activity levels, but you should also reduce the amount of time you and your family spend sitting down.

Common examples of sedentary behaviour include watching TV, using a computer, using the car for short journeys and sitting down to read, talk or listen to music. This type of behaviour is thought to increase your risk of developing many long-term conditions, such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, as well as weight gain and obesity.

Crucially, you can hit your weekly activity target but still be at risk of ill health if you spend the rest of the time sitting or lying down.

For a summary on the health benefits of being more active, see the physical activity guidelines from the Department of Health and Social Care.

Benefits of physical activity and risks of sedentary behaviour and inactivity

Physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for noncommunicable diseases mortality. People who are insufficiently active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared to people who are sufficiently active. Regular physical activity is associated with:

• in children and adolescents, improved physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, bone health, cognitive outcomes, mental health and reduced body fat;
• in adults and older adults, reduced risk of all-cause mortality, risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, incident hypertension, incident site-specific cancers, incident type-2 diabetes, and falls and improved mental health, cognitive health, sleep and measures of body fat; and
• for pregnant and post-partum women, decreased risk of pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, excessive gestational weight gain, delivery complications, postpartum depression and newborn complications. Physical activity has no adverse effects on birthweight or increased risk of stillbirth.

Sedentary behaviour is any period of low-energy expenditure while awake such as sitting, reclining or lying. Lives are becoming increasingly sedentary through the use of motorized transport and the increased use of screens for work, education and recreation. Evidence shows higher amounts of sedentary behaviour are associated with the following poor health outcomes:

• in children and adolescents, increased adiposity, poorer cardiometabolic health, fitness, and behavioural conduct/pro-social behaviour, and reduced sleep duration; and
• in adults, increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and cancer mortality and incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer and type-2 diabetes.

How much physical activity is recommended?

The WHO Global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour provide recommendations for children (age 5 and up), adolescents, adults, older adults, pregnant and post-partum women, and people living with chronic conditions and disabilities. The recommendations detail the amount of physical activity (frequency, intensity and duration) required to offer significant health benefits and to reduce health risks. The guidelines highlight that any amount of physical activity is better than none; all physical activity counts; all age groups should limit the amount of time being sedentary; and muscle strengthening benefits everyone.

The WHO Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age provide recommendations on the amount of time in a 24-hour day that young children, under 5 years of age, should spend being physically active or sleeping for their health and well-being, and the maximum recommended time these children should spend on screen-based sedentary activities or time restrained.

An infographic summarizes the current WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour for all age groups. WHO develops guidelines through an arduous process of reviewing scientific evidence and expert consultations. Preparations are already underway for the next guidelines, anticipated for publication in 2030.

Levels of physical inactivity globally

WHO regularly monitors trends in physical inactivity. A recent study (1) found that nearly one third (31%) of the world’s adult population, 1.8 billion adults, are physically inactive. That is, they do not meet the global recommendations of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. This is an increase of 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022. If this trend continues, the proportion of adults not meeting recommended levels of physical activity is projected to rise to 35% by 2030.

Globally, there are notable age and gender differences in levels of physical inactivity.

• Women are less active than men by an average of 5 percentage points. This has not changed since 2000.
• After 60 years of age physical inactivity levels increase in both men and women.
• 81% of adolescents (aged 11–17 years) were physically inactive (2).
• Adolescent girls were less active than adolescent boys, with 85% vs. 78%, not meeting WHO guidelines.

Many different factors can determine how active people are and the overall levels of physical activity in different population groups. These factors can be related to the individual or wider social, cultural, environmental and economic determinants that influence access and opportunities to be active in safe and enjoyable ways.

How Member States can increase levels of physical activity

The WHO Global action plan on physical activity provides policy recommendations for countries and communities to promote physical activity and ensure everyone has more opportunities to be regularly active. Examples of these recommendations include policies that ensure access to walking, cycling and non-motorized transport; that increase physical activity opportunities in schools, workplaces, childcare centres and in healthcare service delivery; and that increase accessibility and availability of community sports and public open spaces.

Implementing effective policies to increase levels of physical activity requires a collective effort, coordinated across multiple government departments at all levels, including health, transport, education, employment, sport and recreation, and urban planning. It also demands national and local engagement from nongovernmental organizations, various sectors, stakeholders and disciplines to support the implementation of policies and solutions that are appropriate to a country’s cultural and social environment. Priority should be given to policy actions that address disparities in levels of physical activity, promoting, enabling and encouraging physical activity for all.

WHO response

WHO supports countries and stakeholders to implement the recommended actions by:

1. developing global policy guidance and guidelines, underpinned by latest evidence and consensus;
2. supporting countries to develop appropriate policies that promote physical activity and multisectoral collaborations;
3. conducting advocacy to raise awareness of the multiple benefits of increasing physical activity and support the development of economic analysis of the impact of increasing physical activity and return on investment of different policy interventions;   
4. developing technical tools and training packages to help countries build capacity in the implementation of policy and programmes across key settings and innovations using digital platforms including through WHO Academy courses, multi-country workshops and other knowledge exchange activities;
5. convening, coordinating, and collaborating to strengthen partnerships across sectors and between policy makers, practitioners and researcher communities; and
6. undertaking global monitoring and reporting of progress on implementation of the Global action plan on physical activity, global levels of physical inactivity and progress towards a 15% relative reduction in the prevalence of physical inactivity by 2030.

Also Read : Achieving Optimal Physical Health And Wellness: A Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

The long-term physical health benefits of exercise are extensive and transformative. From improving cardiovascular and metabolic health to enhancing bone density, muscle strength, and joint mobility, regular physical activity significantly boosts your overall health and quality of life. Moreover, exercise plays a crucial role in preventing and managing chronic diseases, extending longevity, and fostering healthy aging.

Whether you’re just starting an exercise routine or have been active for years, the key to long-term health is consistency. By engaging in a variety of physical activities that promote cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility, and endurance, you can ensure that you not only enjoy the benefits today but continue to reap them well into the future.

FAQs

How much exercise should I do each week to experience long-term benefits?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity each week, along with muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days per week.

Can exercise reverse the effects of aging?

While exercise cannot completely reverse aging, it can significantly slow down the aging process. Regular exercise helps maintain muscle mass, bone density, and cognitive function, all of which are critical for healthy aging.

Is it possible to get the benefits of exercise in a shorter amount of time?

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a time-efficient workout that can provide similar cardiovascular and metabolic benefits as longer, moderate-intensity sessions. However, consistency over time is key to achieving long-term benefits.

What type of exercise is best for improving cardiovascular health?

Aerobic exercises such as walking, running, cycling, and swimming are the best for improving cardiovascular health. Engaging in these activities regularly strengthens the heart and improves circulation.

Will strength training help me lose weight?

Yes, strength training helps build lean muscle, which in turn boosts your metabolism and promotes fat loss. It is most effective when combined with cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet.

Can exercise help with managing chronic pain or arthritis?

Exercise, especially low-impact activities like swimming or cycling, can help reduce joint stiffness, improve flexibility, and alleviate chronic pain. It is important to consult a doctor before starting any exercise regimen if you have chronic pain or arthritis.

How does exercise affect mental health?

Exercise has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress by boosting the release of endorphins and improving overall brain function. Regular physical activity also helps with sleep quality, contributing to better mental well-being.