Your Body Wants More Than One Kind of Exercise

The Spice of Life: You’ve probably heard that the best way to stick to an exercise routine is to find something you enjoy and keep doing it. That’s not bad advice. But a new study published in BMJ Medicine suggests there may also be value in mixing things up: Researchers tracked more than 111,000 adults for over 30 years and found that people who consistently did a wider variety of physical activities had a lower risk of death, even after accounting for total exercise volume.

The Study: Using data from two long-running cohorts, researchers updated participants’ reported exercise habits every two years and assigned each person a variety score based on how many different activities they consistently did. Compared with those with the lowest variety scores, those with the highest had a 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality, with cause-specific mortality 13% to 41% lower.

The Takeaway: Different activities may challenge the body in different ways. Cardio builds endurance, strength training supports muscle and bone, and other forms of movement can test balance, coordination, and mobility. The study doesn’t prove variety causes longer life, but it does suggest a well-rounded routine may matter.

Keep in Mind: Participants were mostly white health professionals, and activity data were self-reported. Swimming was the exception, showing no clear link with lower all-cause mortality.