A new study evaluating more than 90,000 adults suggests that exercise may counteract some of the effects of little sleep. A new study, recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, looked at the effects on the joints of 92,221 UK adults aged 40 to 73 who wore an accelerometer bracelet for a week, writes The Independent.

Scientists classified the duration of night sleep as short (less than six hours), normal (between six and eight hours) or long (more than eight hours) and divided the data on physical activity into low, intermediate and high.

The researchers observed a 41% higher chance of death in participants with an average amount of exercise and too little sleep. The researchers also found that sleep duration was not associated with the risk of death in people with high physical activity.

The ideal scenario: healthy sleep and exercise

According to the scientists, people who sleep little and exercise little have a 69 percent higher risk of death from heart disease, which disappears when physical activity increases to moderate or vigorous activity.

• “Our findings suggest that health promotion efforts targeting both physical activity and sleep duration may be more effective in preventing or delaying premature death in middle-aged and older adults than focusing on one behavior alone.
• In an ideal scenario, people would always get a healthy amount of both sleep and physical activity.
• However, our research shows that a sufficient amount of physical exercise can partially compensate for the negative impact of not getting enough sleep.
• Even 45 minutes of daily exercise can give you maximum longevity benefits.
• Combine physical training with other healthy habits that extend your life,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Jihui Zhang of Guangzhou Medical University. (PHOTO: Dreamstime.com)

Read also:

• Ten bad habits that make you less productive in the morning. And it’s not just the lack of breakfast
• How much exercise do we need each week to live a long and healthy life?