The health benefits of physical activity are well established. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activities or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity per week. While an active lifestyle is optimal, physical activity levels can change over a woman’s life due to major transitions like marriage, childbirth, and retirement. Most studies have measured physical activity at a single point in time, leading to biases and not addressing the impact of starting physical activity later in life. The long-term health outcomes of meeting physical activity guidelines in women remain underexplored.
A study conducted by Nguyen et al., recently published in the journal “PLOS Medicine” explored how 15-year physical activity patterns affect health-related quality of life in middle-aged Australian women, covering physical and mental health. The study sought to answer the following questions:
1. Does sticking to exercise guidelines from mid-life onwards enhance the quality of life compared to consistently not adhering?
2. Does starting to follow exercise guidelines during mid-life improve the quality of life compared to consistently not following, with earlier adoption linked to better outcomes?
By exploring these associations, they sought to provide insights into the role of physical activity in promoting healthy aging and enhancing overall quality of life for women as they age. This study has reported that consistently following the exercise guidelines or first starting to meet these guidelines at age 55 years resulted in improved quality of life, underscoring the importance of women to be active throughout mid-age, ideally increasing activity levels to meet the guidelines by age 55, to gain the most benefits for physical health in later life (see the study graphics).
(Source: Nguyen B, Clare P, Mielke GI, Brown WJ, Ding D. Physical activity across midlife and health-related quality of life in Australian women: A target trial emulation using a longitudinal cohort. Plos Medicine. 2024 May 2;21(5):e1004384. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004384)