A Variety of Physical Activities Helps You Live Longer

In this Article (Index)

This study confirms that physical activity reduces mortality, helping you live longer and healthier. It also shows that combining different types of physical activity lowers mortality, regardless of the accumulated level of PA.

Variety's the very spice of life William Cowper. The Task (1785)

• Combining Different Types of Physical Activity Lowers Mortality
• Variety is the secret
• Findings: Lower mortality Risk
• Closing Comments

Combining Different Types of Physical Activity Lowers Mortality

Scientific studies have shown that total physical activity levels are associated with lower mortality. Exercising regularly, consistently, over the years, reduces the risk of death and also provides multiple health benefits.

Previous studies suggested that different kinds of physical activity have different effects on the body. This study set out to explore the effects of a mix of different types of activity on mortality.

Variety is the Secret

The study published on January 20, 2026, used data from 70,725 women and 40,742 men who participated in the Setting Nurses' Health Study (1986-2018) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2020).

They were initially free of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory, or neurological diseases. The study analyzed mortality, cause of death, total physical activity levels, and physical activity variety-

Findings: Lower mortality Risk

Risk reduction for those in the highest range of physical activity levels compared with those in the lowest was the following:

• 17% for walking
• 15% for tennis or squash
• 14% for rowing or callisthenics
• 13% for running
• 13% for weight training or resistance exercises
• 11% for jogging
• 10% for climbing stairs
• 4% for bicycling

No difference was noticed for swimming, and the authors suggest that different energy expenditure depending on swimming intensity may have biased the data to a null effect. Further studies will be needed to clarify the matter.

More variety = Lower mortality

There was a clear link between higher physical activity variety and lower mortality.

Compared with those who had the lowest variety score, those with the highest physical activity variety score had a 19% lower all-cause mortality, and 13 to 41% lower mortality from cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and other causes.

Overall, these data support the notion that long-term engagement in multiple types of physical activity may help extend the lifespan. Han H, Hu J, Lee DH, Zhang Y, Giovannucci E, Stampfer MJ, et al. (2026) (1)

Death cause and Exercise Type

The study found links between certain causes of death and specific types of exercise:

Cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease mortality risks were lower for: running, tennis, squash, racquetball, climbing flights of stairs, and weight training or resistance exercises.

The Nurses' Health Study, showed that "lower intensity exercise was associated with lower all-cause mortality, especially for cancer mortality... Also, other vigorous activity was associated with lower mortality from causes other than cancer".

The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study showed that more heavy outdoor work was associated with lower respiratory disease mortality (working outdoors is good for respiratory health).

Closing Comments

A wider variety of physical activity is linked to a lower mortality, and this is independent of total physical activity levels.

Mixing different kinds of exercise could help improve healthspan: live longer and with better life quality.

One should aim at walking some days, lifting weights (resistance training) on others, gardening, riding a bike, or climbing stairs.

Different activities challenge the body, mind-muscle coordination, balance, stronger joints and muscles, which can help ward off frailty and muscle-mass loss (sarcopenia) as one ages.

Select physical activities that match your abilities and health condition. Start slowly and gradually build up.

In this study, we found that the total physical activity and most individual physical activities were associated with lower mortality in a non-linear manner, suggesting the presence of a potential threshold for the beneficial effects of physical activity. Also, a simple physical activity variety score was associated with lower mortality, independent of total physical activity levels, suggesting that long term engagement in multiple types of physical activity may have additional health benefits on longevity.Han H, Hu J, Lee DH, Zhang Y, Giovannucci E, Stampfer MJ, et al. (2026) (1)