According to a comprehensive study that included data from more than 116,000 individuals over 30 years, moderate physical exercise for between 300 and 600 minutes may be the sweet spot for lowering mortality risk.

And if you up the intensity of those workouts, you may stop working out after just 150 to 300 minutes a week while still feeling confident that your body will benefit from the same effects.

Of course, we will all pass away; the only question is when. However, the current research indicates that in terms of prolonging lifespans and lowering the probability of dying from causes other than old age, a broad 150-600 minute window offers the most advantages.

According to the study, which focused on issues relating to the cardiovascular system, in particular, excessive exercise is not harmful to the heart but does little to lower the chance of dying young.

It is yet unknown if engaging in high levels of extended, intense, or moderate-intensity physical exercise over the prescribed levels has any additional positive impacts on cardiovascular health or negative ones. This is according to nutritionist Dong Hoon Lee from Harvard University.

Currently, the US Department of Health and Human Services advises either 150–300 minutes of moderate physical activity (such as walking or calisthenics) or 75–150 minutes of strenuous physical exercise (such as swimming, running, and cycling) per week.

Following those recommendations reduced the risk of mortality from all causes by 20–21% (moderate exercise) or 19% (vigorous activity) for study participants. However, the risk decreased even more for individuals who increased their weekly moderate activity to 600 minutes, dropping by 26–31%.

Researchers also found that following the guidelines for both moderate and vigorous activity reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 22–25 percent for moderate activity and by 31 percent for vigorous activity. Pushing past the recommendations in some circumstances further decreased the risk.

According to Lee, "Our findings corroborate the existing national physical activity recommendations and further imply that medium to high levels of either moderate or vigorous activity, or a combination of the two, may be performed to gain the maximum benefits."

According to specific research, there is a possibility of overdoing it, with people who exercise at least three times as much as is advised having an elevated risk of arterial hardening in old age.

While no health hazards were associated with excessive activity, the researchers did not identify any additional advantages. In other words, excessive exercise didn't appear to be harmful but based on this particular study, it also might not be very beneficial.

93 percent of the study participants were white, thus even with such a sizable sample size, more research is required to obtain a more accurate picture of the situation.

According to Lee, our study offers evidence to help people make the best physical activity decisions throughout their lifetimes to maintain their general health.