Movement is key for your overall health, and exercise may even boost longevity, meaning a longer, healthier life.
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While experts generally define longevity as how long you live, the term is now often coupled with the concept of health span, or how well you maintain mobility, strength, cognitive function, and resilience during your lifespan.
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“The evidence is clear: Regular physical activity is one of the most powerful interventions for increasing both lifespan and health span,” says Mark Kovacs, PhD, an exercise physiologist based in Atlanta who has researched longevity and athletic performance. “Exercise improves cardiovascular function, preserves muscle mass, maintains bone density, enhances metabolic health, and reduces inflammation. It also benefits cognitive function, mental health, and immune resilience.”
The following seven exercises may be especially effective for boosting longevity.
1. Brisk Walking
Aerobic exercise is vital for longevity, and most of those benefits can be achieved through moderate-intensity activity like as brisk walking, says Edward Giovannucci, MD, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, who has researched the benefits of physical activity on mortality.
By improving cardiovascular health, brisk walking may lower your risk of chronic conditions known to shorten lifespan, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. It’s also been shown to reduce your risk of dying from any cause.
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Research finds these benefits are most noticeable in those who hit at least 7,000 steps per day.
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To ensure your brisk walk counts toward the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, aim for a speed of at least 2.5 miles per hour (mph).
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2. Running
Running is an effective vigorous-intensity exercise to boost longevity. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving more than 232,000 people found that runners had a 27 percent lower risk of death from any cause and a 30 percent lower risk of death from heart disease than non-runners.
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Running builds cardiorespiratory fitness by strengthening your heart, lungs, and muscles’ ability to use oxygen efficiently. This improved cardiovascular function lowers blood pressure, improves circulation through the formation of new capillaries and enlargement of blood vessels, and reduces inflammation — all factors that decrease your risk of chronic diseases and death.
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Even modest amounts of running provide benefits. In a study of nearly 4,500 adults, those who ran a minimum of 75 minutes per week showed biological markers associated with 12 more years of life than their sedentary counterparts. The study measured telomeres — protective caps on chromosomes that shorten with age — which were longer in runners, suggesting slower biological aging.
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3. Resistance Band Exercises
Strength training prevents sarcopenia (age-related decline in muscle mass and strength), increases bone density, and maintains cognitive function.
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It also lowers the risk of death from any cause, including heart disease, diabetes, and, potentially cancer.
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Resistance bands — large elastic bands available in different tension levels — offer a particularly effective and accessible way to build strength as you age. They stimulate strength gains just as effectively as free weights (like dumbbells and barbells) and weight machines.
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Yet they’re gentler on joints, a key advantage for adults with arthritis or joint pain.
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Perform at least two resistance band workouts per week that target multiple major muscle groups. Start with one set of 8 to 12 repetitions before progressing to two or three sets.
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4. Squats
Squats strengthen multiple lower-body muscles, which are essential for healthy aging. As we age, leg muscles naturally weaken, making it harder to stand up from a chair, climb stairs, or catch yourself from falling. Strong legs help you maintain balance and move independently, reducing your risk of disease, disability, and early death.
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You can do squats at home — federal guidelines suggest doing a set after dinner while watching TV three nights per week.
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As you get stronger, add weights or resistance bands, or try variations like goblet squats (holding a weight against your chest with two hands) or single-leg squats.
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5. Swimming
Swimming supports longevity by building cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength through water resistance.
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A study on elite pool swimmers found that swimming may strengthen your heart, improve blood flow, and keep blood vessels flexible.
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These benefits may reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.Research supports this: In a study of more than 80,000 people, those who swam regularly were 41 percent less likely to die of heart disease or stroke and 28 percent less likely to die early from any cause.
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Swimming is also low-impact, meaning it doesn’t place a lot of strain on the joints. This makes it ideal for people with joint pain. “If you have joint pain, especially in the lower extremities, you can even do activities like water aerobics — and those are incredibly beneficial to people with osteoarthritis that affects the hip and knee joints,” says Siddhartha Angadi, PhD, an associate professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and a cardiovascular exercise physiologist who has researched the relationship between fitness levels and heart disease and mortality.
6. Tennis
Tennis supports longevity through a combination of cardiovascular exercise, strength building, and bone health benefits. A long-term study of more than 8,500 people found that those who played tennis lived an average of 9.7 years longer than those who were inactive.
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As a weight-bearing exercise, tennis produces force on the bones that promotes their strength and growth, which supports mobility and function while protecting against fractures that can lead to immobility and increased mortality.
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It also builds muscle strength and can slow bone density loss that leads to osteoporosis.
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“Tennis combines speed, coordination, cardio, strength, and cognition,” adds Kovacs. “It’s an excellent lifelong sport, and you can play at an intensity appropriate for your fitness level.”
The social nature of tennis may offer additional longevity benefits, as social connection is associated with reduced mortality and improved mental health.
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7. Golf
Despite its reputation as a leisurely sport, golf provides serious longevity benefits. Older research suggests that regular golfers live an average of five years longer than non-golfers.
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The physical benefits come from walking the course, which provides aerobic exercise. The repetitive swinging motion builds core and upper body strength, while carrying or pushing a golf bag adds resistance training.
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Golf also requires hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, and concentration, which research suggests may improve memory and thinking ability in older adults.
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These cognitive skills are linked to maintaining independence and reducing mortality risk with age.
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The Takeaway
- Exercise is key to longevity, meaning a longer, healthier life.
- At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week may reduce the risk of early death and prevent the development of chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
- Regular exercise like brisk walking, running, swimming, squats, tennis, golf, and resistance training can extend the length and quality of your life.
