Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physical activity, physical fitness and longevity

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Numerous studies consistently have shown that higher levels of physical activity are associated with decreased risks of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, colon and, possibly, breast cancer, as well as osteoporosis. The biological processes proposed to explain these inverse associations are highly plausible. If physical activity does reduce the risk of developing these chronic diseases, we also would expect physical activity to delay mortality and enhance longevity. In this article, we review the major epidemiological studies worldwide that have examined the association between physical activity or physical fitness and all-cause mortality. The data from these studies indicate that physical activity is effective in postponing mortality and enhancing longevity. Public health professionals worldwide should emphasize the need to increase activity levels during leisure time, as well as the need to incorporate physical activity into the daily activities of life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lyons A.S., Petrucelli R.J.: Medicine: An illustrated history. Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Smith E.: Report on the sanitary conditions of tailors in London. Report of the Medical Officer. The Privy Council, London, 1864, pp. 416–430.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sivertsen I., Dahlstrom A.W.: The relation of muscular activity to carcinoma: A preliminary report. J. Cancer Res. 6: 365–378, 1922.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Hartley P.H.S., Llewellyn G.F.: The longevity of oarsmen: A study of those who rowed in the Oxford and Cambridge boat race from 1829-1928. Br. Med. J. 1: 657–662, 1939.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Rook A.: An investigation into the longevity of Cambridge sportsmen. Br. Med. J. 1: 773–777, 1954.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Pomeroy W.C., White P.D.: Coronary heart disease in former football players. JAMA 167: 711–714, 1958.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bouchard C., Shephard R.J., Stephens T., (Eds.): Physical activity, fitness, and health: International proceedings and consensus statement. Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, IL, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  8. US Department of Health and Human Services: Physical activity and health: A report of the Surgeon General. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Atlanta, GA, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Morris J.N., Heady J.A., Raffle P.A.B., Roberts C.G., Parks J.W.: Coronary heart-disease and physical activity of work. I. Coronary heart-disease in different occupations. Lancet 2: 1053–1057, 1953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Morris J.N., Crawford M.D.: Coronary heart disease and physical activity of work: Evidence of a national necropsy survey. Br. Med. J. 2: 1485–1496, 1958.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Morris J.N., Everitt M.G., Pollard R., Chave S.P.W., Sem-mence A.M.: Vigorous exercise in leisure-time: Protection against coronary heart disease. Lancet 2: 1207–1210, 1980.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Morris J.N., Clayton D.G., Everitt M.G., Semmence A.M., Burgess E.H.: Exercise in leisure-time: Coronary attack and death rates. Br. Heart J. 63: 325–334, 1990.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Chave S.P.W., Morris J.N., Moss S., Semmence A.M.: Vigorous exercise in leisure time and the death rate: A study of male civil servants. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 32: 239–243, 1978.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Wolf P.A., Notkin J., Thorne M.C.: Chronic disease in former college students. I. Early precursors of fatal coronary heart disease. Am. J. Epidemiol. 83: 314–328, 1966.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Laughlin M.E., Gima A.S., Black R.A.: Work activity of longshoremen as related to death from coronary heart disease and stroke. N. Engl. J. Med. 282: 1109–1114, 1970.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Hale W.E.: Work activity and coronary heart mortality. N. Engl. J. Med. 292: 545–550, 1975.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Wing A.L., Hyde R.T.: Physical activity as an index of heart attack risk in college alumni. Am. J. Epidemiol. 108:161–175, 1978.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Hyde R.T., Wing A.L., Steinmetz C.H.: A natural history of athleticism and cardiovascular health. JAMA 252: 491–495, 1984.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Hyde R.T, Wing A.L., Hsieh C-c.: Physical activity and longevity of college alumni. N. Engl. J. Med. 315: 399–401, 1986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Hyde R.T., Wing A.L., Lee I-M., Jung D.L., Kampert J.B.: The association of changes in physical activity level and other lifestyle characteristics with mortality among men. N. Engl. J. Med. 328: 538–545, 1993.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Lee I-M., Hsieh C-c., Paffenbarger R.S. Jr.: Exercise intensity and longevity in men: The Harvard Alumni Health Study. JAMA 273: 1179–1184, 1995.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Slattery M.L., Jacobs D.R. Jr., Nichaman M.Z.: Leisure time physical activity and coronary heart disease death: The US Railroad Study. Circulation 79: 304–311, 1989.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Pekkanen J., Marti B., Nissinen A., Tuomilehto J., Punsar S., Karvonen M.: Reduction of premature mortality by high physical activity: A 20-year follow-up of middle-aged Finnish men. Lancet 1: 1473–1477, 1987.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Salonen J.T., Puska P., Tuomilehto J.: Physical activity and risk of myocardial infarction, cerebral stroke and death: A longitudinal study in Eastern Finland. Am. J. Epidemiol. 115: 526–537, 1982.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Leon A.S., Connett J., Jacobs D.R. Jr., Rauramaa R.: Leisure-time physical activity levels and risk of coronary heart disease and death: The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. JAMA 258: 2388–2395, 1987.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Lindsted K.D., Tonstad S., Kuzma J.W.: Self-report of physical activity and patterns of mortality in Seventh-Day Adventist men. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 44: 355–364, 1991.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Kaplan G.A., Seeman T.E., Cohen R.D., Knudsen L.P., Guralnik J.: Mortality among the elderly in the Alameda County Study: Behavioral and Demographic Risk Factors. Am. J. Public Health 77: 307–312, 1987.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Simonsick E.M., Lafferty M.E., Phillips C.L., Mendes de Leon C.F., Kasl S.V., Seeman T.E., Fillenbaum G., Hebert P., Lemke J.H.: Risk due to inactivity in physically capable older adults. Am. J. Public Health 83: 1443–1450, 1993.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Blair S.N., Kohl H.W. III, Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Clark D.G., Cooper K.H., Gibbons L.W.: Physical fitness and all-cause mortality: A prospective study of healthy men and women. JAMA 262: 2395–2401, 1989.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Blair S.N., Kohl H.W. III, Barlow C.E., Paffenbarger R.S. Jr., Gibbons L.W., Macera C.E.: Changes in physical fitness and all-cause mortality: A prospective study of healthy and unhealthy men. JAMA 273: 1093–1098, 1995.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Slattery M.L., Jacobs D.R. Jr.: Physical fitness and cardiovascular disease mortality: The US Railroad Study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 127:571–580, 1988.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Ekelund L-G., Haskell W.L., Johnson J.L., Whaley F.S., Criqui M.H., Sheps D.S.: Physical fitness as a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in asymptomatic North American men: The Lipid Research Clinics Mortality Follow-up Study. N. Engl. J. Med. 319: 1379–1384, 1988.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Sandvik L., Erikssen J., Thaulow E., Erikssen G., Mundal R., Rodahl K.: Physical fitness as a predictor of mortality among healthy, middle-aged Norwegian men. N. Engl. J. Med. 328: 533–537, 1993.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Kramsch D.M., Aspen A.J., Abramowitz B.M., Kreimendahl T., Hood W.B. Jr.: Reduction of coronary atherosclerosis by moderate conditioning exercise in monkeys on an athero-genic diet. N. Engl. J. Med. 305: 1483–1489, 1981.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Blomqvist C.G., Saltin B.: Cardiovascular adaptations to physical training. Annu. Rev. Physiol. 45: 169–189, 1983.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Noakes T.D., Higginson L., Opie L.H.: Physical training increases ventricular fibrillation thresholds of isolated rat hearts during normoxia, hypoxia, and regional ischemia. Circulation 67: 24–30, 1983.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Richardson P.D., Davies M.J., Born G.V.R.: Influence of plaque configuration and stress distribution on fissuring of coronary atherosclerotic plaques. Lancet 2: 941–944, 1989.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Fuster V., Badimon L., Badimon J.J., Chesebro J.H.: The pathogenesis of coronary artery disease and the acute coronary syndromes. N. Engl. J. Med. 326: 242–250, 310-318, 1992.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Kestin A.S., Ellis P.A., Barnard M.R., Errichetti A., Rosner B.A., Michelson A.D.: Effect of strenuous exercise on platelet activation state and reactivity. Circulation 88: 1502–1511, 1993.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Schulman S.P., Fleg J.L., Goldberg A.P., Busby-Whitehead J., Hagberg J.M., O’Connor F.C., Gerstenblith G., Becker L.C., Katzel L.I., Lakatta L.E., Lakatta E.G.: Continuum of cardiovascular performance across a broad range of fitness levels in healthy older men. Circulation 94: 359–367, 1996.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Pate R.R., Pratt M., Blair S.N., Haskell W.L., Macera C.A., Bouchard C., Buchner D., Ettinger W., Heath G.W., King A.C., Kriska A., Leon A.S., Marcus B.H., Morris J., Paffenbarger R.S.Jr, Patrick K., Pollock M.L., Rippe J.M., Sallis J., Wilmore J.H.: Physical activity and public health: A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. JAMA 273: 402–407, 1995.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA

    I. M. Lee M.B., B.S., Sc.D. & C. H. Hennekens

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    I. M. Lee M.B., B.S., Sc.D., R. S. Paffenbarger Jr. & C. H. Hennekens

  3. Division of Epidemiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA

    R. S. Paffenbarger Jr.

  4. Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    C. H. Hennekens

Authors
  1. I. M. Lee M.B., B.S., Sc.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. S. Paffenbarger Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C. H. Hennekens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, I.M., Paffenbarger, R.S. & Hennekens, C.H. Physical activity, physical fitness and longevity. Aging Clin Exp Res 9, 2–11 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03340123

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03340123

Keywords

Search

Navigation