Which Is More Important For Your Health: Exercising More Or Weighing Less?

It is frustrating to work out like crazy and not drop much weight. No matter how hard you try, that number on the scale just won’t budge. It can make you feel like giving up. What’s the point? If you aren’t losing weight, you aren’t doing much for your health, right? Maybe not. A  team of researchers out of Europe conducted a study that yielded some results that may make you want to keep sweating it out, anyway.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,  has found that lack of exercise is twice as deadly as obesity. That’s right, moving your body does more to support good health than being thin.

The team of researchers scattered throughout Europe followed 334, 161 adults over the course of 12 years and monitored their  activity level, height, weight, waist circumference, and death rates. After controlling for sex, education, smoking, and alcohol intake, they found that lack of exercise is a killer.

They found that people who exercised moderately were 16-30% less likely to die during the course of the study when compared to their inactive counterparts. Extrapolating numbers, the researchers said that  337,000 of the 9.2 million deaths in Europe could be attributed to obesity. But nearly twice that,  676,000 deaths, could be blamed on inactivity.

The researchers are not saying that losing those extra pounds won’t improve your health, they are just saying the exercising regularly will improve it more.

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There is one big problem with this study, however — it relied on self-reporting. Participants shared their activity level based on memory which, of course, is unreliable at best. The study also demonstrates  the effects of exercise on a population which means it does not account for individual factors like environment and personal habits.

This study demonstrates a correlation between exercise and living longer. It does not demonstrate that exercising  causes you to live longer. This study shows that working out is good for you no matter what you weigh.

In all likelihood, the news that working out is good for you probably doesn’t come as a surprise. If you’re thinking you might like to increase your odds of living longer, why not try working out with us? With SweatFlix℠ you’ll have access to over 100 hours of BodyRock workouts on demand! Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned fitness vet, SweatFlix℠ has you covered. From yoga to HIIT training, there is more than enough for everyone. And with new content being added all the time, you’ll never fall into a workout rut! Start your trial today! 

What do you think of this study? Does this information motivate you to work out more often?

Source: Shape

 

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