For Your Health — Move More, Live Better

It’s likely no surprise to read that physical activity is good for us. In fact, it may be hard to go a full day without seeing something positive about exercise and physical activity on the news or social media.

What can sometimes get lost in all that, though, is how wide-ranging the benefits of physical activity can be.

Better-known benefits include helping us live longer and keeping weight in check, as well as lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic diseases.

But physical activity can also have an impact on many other areas, including some that may sound a little abstract but might feel like they have a more direct effect on our day-to-day lives. One of these is how we feel about our lives, which is often referred to more technically as quality of life.

While the research world has specific definitions of quality of life depending on what is being studied, one way to look at it is as an overall measure of how we feel life is going, across many different parts of it. It’s something very personal, and something we define for ourselves.

“Scientifically, there’s ‘global’ quality of life, which generally encompasses an individual’s judgment of their satisfaction with life,” said Elizabeth Salerno, a behavioral scientist at WashU Medicine in St. Louis who specializes in physical activity research. “Then there’s health-related quality of life, which includes physical, mental and social aspects of well-being.”

And the evidence that physical activity can boost these quality-of-life measures is just as strong as it is that activity can lower the risk of chronic diseases, Salerno added. “Findings from multiple studies have demonstrated that people who receive physical activity interventions have better quality-of-life outcomes over time compared to those who did not get the interventions,” she said.

It’s likely that the more physical activity we get, the bigger boost we get to our quality of life. At the same time, any amount of activity may also help.

Recommended guidelines to get 150 minutes or more of physical activity each week is a great goal to work toward. But just moving more, whatever our starting point, likely has benefits too. Walking, cycling and gym classes are classic examples of physical activity. But gardening and dancing are types of activities that can also be included. And we can creatively piece these exercises and activities together throughout our busy days and weeks.

“Any bit of activity counts towards your ‘total,’ ” Salerno said. “That means that a quick five-minute walk to the store or a 60-second jog up or walk down the stairs contributes to better health. Structured, goal-oriented exercise is still important, but maintaining a physically active lifestyle as much as possible is crucial.”

Regular activity can help improve quality of life in a number of ways. Among those, it can improve mood, provide an energy boost, help with flexibility and mobility and just generally keep us healthier.

But there is still much to learn about how physical activity benefits quality of life, Salerno said. One theory is that we may build strong social connections when, say, we’re walking or taking a gym class with others — and that can impact how we see our positions in life.

“It underscores the importance of enjoying what we do when we move our bodies,” Salerno said. “Whatever keeps us coming back for more — and fits neatly into the unique structures of our lives — is likely to pack the biggest punch when it comes to optimizing our life satisfaction.”

Dr. Graham A. Colditz, associate director of prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine in St. Louis, is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention and the creator of the 8ightWays® to Prevent Cancer series.