Twin study reveals surprising impact on lifespan when one does more exercise than the other

A study has revealed the impact of exercise on longevity and the results may surprise you.

While some chase ways to extend their life by splashing out $2 million each year, the rest of us Tom, Dick and Sallys have to rely on simpler means to try and live longer - the question is, do all the ways we believe really work as well as we think?

A study - titled The associations of long-term physical activity in adulthood with later biological ageing and all-cause mortality - a prospective twin study, published in Springer Nature Link - decided to investigate the association between physical activity and having 'a lower risk of mortality'.

It looked at health data of around 23,000 Finnish twins born before 1958.

Their physical activity levels were evaluated at three different points - in 1975, 1981 and then 1990 and 'mortality rate' was followed up until the end of 2020.

Using the data, participants were divided into four groups - sedentary, moderately active, active and highly active.

Associate professor in the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä and lead of the GenActive research project Elina Sillanpää noted the study used 'novel methods' such as polygenic scoring and epigenetic clocks to produce the 'new evidence' on the topic.

Polygenic scoring is 'an estimate of an individual's genetic liability to a trait or disease, calculated according to their genotype profile and relevant genome-wide association study (GWAS) data', Nature explains. And epigenetic clocks estimate biological age.

But what did the study reveal?

The study looked at twins and the impact of exercise on life span (Getty Stock Image)

The results

The study revealed although biological ageing was 'accelerated in sedentary and highly active classes, after adjusting for other lifestyle-related factors, the associations mainly attenuated'.

"Physically active classes had a maximum seven percent lower risk of total mortality over the sedentary class, but this association was consistent only in the short term," it explained.

The study also threw into question the recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO recommends '150 to 300 minutes of moderate or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise per week' however, the study proved doing this did not actually 'lower participants' mortality risk or change their genetic disease risk'.

Sillanpää reflected: "Our results suggest that meeting WHO recommendations for physical activity is sufficient for life span benefits, and more intense exercise does not provide additional benefits. Similar results have been shown before. However, we also demonstrated that the association of physical activity and life span may be prone to bias due to several factors.

"People with diseases or underlying health conditions may be less active, and it’s natural for individuals close to death to move less, which may cause reverse causality."

But this certainly doesn't mean you should throw the towel in on exercise altogether.

Exercising is still beneficial for quality of life (Getty Stock Image)

What it means

Ultimately, it means exercise is just one factor that impacts longevity and despite the study showing the benefits on your lifespan may not be quite as beneficial as you may've thought, that doesn't mean you should simply give up on moving your body.

Sillanpää added: "Other lifestyle factors may also explain the association; physically active individuals usually smoke less and have healthier diets. It’s important to note that physical activity is a voluntary behavior, and our genetic preferences partially explain whether exercise is easy for us or not. Some genetic variation may also be associated with healthy behavior and lower risk of common diseases, as shown by our group’s previous studies."

This is also just one study - with many others showing life span is increased by partaking in more physical activity.

It's also important to note even if your life isn't necessarily prolonged, exercise and strengthening your muscles will ultimately help improve your quality of life.