Study finds that not exercising is worse for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease

  • The new exercise study appeared in the JAMA Network Open journal Friday 
  • Findings were based off 122,007 patients tested over the course of 23 years 
  • Those that didn't do well on the treadmill test were said to have almost two times the health risks as those with kidney failure on dialysis
  • Researchers found that while people of all ages lowered mortality risks if they exercised regularly, women did see a slightly higher benefit than men 

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 11:21 EDT, 20 October 2018 | Updated: 13:29 EDT, 20 October 2018

A new study reveals that not exercising is deadlier for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease. 

The findings were based on the retrospective study of 122,007 patients who went through testing at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic over the course of 23 years, between 1991 and 2014. The results were published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open.   

'Being unfit on a treadmill or in an exercise stress test has a worse prognosis, as far as death, than being hypertensive, being diabetic or being a current smoker,' Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and senior study author Dr. Wael Jaber told CNN.

A new study based off 23 years worth of testing results for 122,007 patients revealed that not exercising is deadlier for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease (file image)

A new study based off 23 years worth of testing results for 122,007 patients revealed that not exercising is deadlier for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease (file image)

The findings, he said, were by far the most 'pronounced' and 'objective' ever seen and were 'extremely surprising.'

Jaber noted that while the dangers of leading a sedentary lifestyle and being out of shape are well-known, he admitted that he was surprised by the study's findings which indicate that both states 'overwhelm even the risk factors as strong as smoking, diabetes or even end-stage disease.'     

Breaking down the results, researchers found that people with sedentary lifestyles had 500 per cent higher risk associated with death than those categorized as being top exercise performers. 

Those that exercised minimally still had a 390 per cent higher risk associated with death compared to those that regularly exercised. 

Meanwhile, those that didn't do well on the treadmill test were said to have almost two times the health risks as those with kidney failure on dialysis. 

Researchers found that people with sedentary lifestyles had 500 per cent higher risk associated with death than those categorized as being top exercise performers

Researchers found that people with sedentary lifestyles had 500 per cent higher risk associated with death than those categorized as being top exercise performers

Researches found that no amount of exercising, including that carried out by 'ultra' exercisers, known to push their bodies to extremes, could result in health risks

Researches found that no amount of exercising, including that carried out by 'ultra' exercisers, known to push their bodies to extremes, could result in health risks

As such, Jaber said, 'There actually is no ceiling for the benefit of exercise' — including in the case of 'ultra' exercisers, who are sometimes said to be at higher risk of death due to the extremes they push their bodies.  

'We can see from the study that the ultra-fit still have lower mortality,' Jaber said, indicting that there is no amount of exercising that could result in health risks.  

While the study found that exercise benefits were seen in both men and women of all ages, the benefits might be 'a little more pronounced' amongst women, Jaber said.

Either way, he said that lack of physical fitness should be considered as being on par with hypertension, diabetes and smoking when it comes to health risk factors. 

As such, being unfit, 'should be treated almost as a disease that has a prescription, which is called exercise,' he said.   

Hospital for Special Surgery sports medicine physician Dr. Jordan Metzl, who has also written the book, The Exercise Cure, noted that $200billion is spent a year treating cardiovascular disease and diabetes and their complications, making it 'the most expensive diseases in the United State.'

'Rather than pay huge sums for disease treatment, we should be encouraging our patients and communities to be active and exercise daily,' Metzl told CNN, advising that 'Once cleared by their physicians, patients shouldn't be afraid of exercise intensity.'

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Study finds that not exercising is worse for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease

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