Definition of Exercise

Exercise: Abundant research has shown benefits of exercise in preventing heart disease and cancer, as well as cognitive decline with age and even viral and bacterial infections. It has also been shown to be beneficial in recovering from heart attacks and in treating heart failure.

Explore Exercise research in the following databases: 

PubMed  Trip Cochrane*
*The Cochrane database requires users to enter the search term manually. Enter “exercise”


Research Spotlight

The databases often return hundreds of medical studies for a single wellness approach. This section summarizes a sampling of five studies – providing just a taste of the available research. 

  • Sitting All Day Increases Dementia Risk—Even If You Work Out

    A 2023 study published in JAMA used data from roughly 50,000 UK adults aged 60+ who wore activity trackers to minutely record their movement (and lack thereof) throughout the day. They then used AI to interpret the results and tracked people’s medical status over the next seven years. They found a very strong correlation between long hours of sitting and dementia: Those who sat at least ten hours a day had an 8% higher risk of getting dementia in those seven years, while those who spent 12 hours sitting had a jaw-dropping 63% higher risk. A surprising finding was that exercising regularly, or walking and taking breaks, did not help: if people still sat more than ten hours a day the dementia risks remained the same. It’s the total hours of sitting that drives the risk.
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  • Exercise in Nature Delivers Bigger Brain Benefits than Indoor Workouts

    A small 2023 study from the University of Victoria compared the impact of “green exercise” vs. the same exercise done indoors (in this case, a short walk). Using electroencephalography to measure the impact on cognitive function, across almost all brain measures, exercise in nature proved the winner. It had a significantly bigger impact on memory, concentration and thinking speed. The researchers concluded that with growing urbanization and sedentary time indoors, that understanding the “nature effect” on cognition is increasingly key.
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  • Exercise: 1.5 Times More Effective Than Medication and Therapy for Depression

    In the most comprehensive review (2023) of global studies to date (1,097 trials, 128,000+ participants), University of South Australia researchers found that exercise should be the “first choice treatment” for depression, anxiety and psychological distress, as it improves symptoms 1.5 times better than both leading medications and talk therapy. Every type of exercise—from walking to resistance training to yoga—proved beneficial. The benefits were seen in every clinical population, with the biggest impact on people with major depressive disorder and those who did supervised exercise.
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  • Strong Link Between Even Modest Physical Activity and Lower Levels of Depression

    A 2022 metareview published in JAMA Psychiatry reveals that even modest exercise (less than recommended by public health guidelines) can have a major impact on mental health. Just 2.5 hours a week of brisk walking was related to a 25% lower risk of depression–and the biggest benefits were seen when moving from none to some activity (rather than moving from moderate to high levels of exercise). The researchers argued that 1 in 9 cases of depression might be prevented if everybody in the population was active at current recommendation levels. 
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  • A Life of Modest Exercise Adds Up to Huge Healthcare Savings

    A 2021 study from the US National Cancer Institute and CDC found that people who start to exercise before or during middle age save between $824 and $1,874 a year on healthcare costs after they retire—and the earlier they begin even modest exercise (walking or moving for a few hours most weeks), the bigger those savings are.
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  • Regular Exercise Protects Against COVID Hospitalization and Death

    A 2021 study from Kaiser Permanente Southern California of 50,000 people who developed COVID had striking findings: People who exercised for 10 minutes or less each week ended up hospitalized because of COVID at twice the rate of people who exercised 150 minutes a week—and were 2.5 times more likely to die. The researchers noted that being sedentary was the greatest risk factor for severe COVID beyond being elderly or an organ recipient.
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  • Walking Briskly Good for Aging Brain

    A 2021 clinical trial from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found that older people with mild cognitive impairment showed significant improvements in brain blood flow, executive function and memory after a yearlong program of brisk walking.
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  • Walking Speed Impacts Life Expectancy

    A 2021 study from French medical researchers in the British Medical Journal (tracking 3,000+ older people for five years) found that people with the slowest walking speed had a significantly increased risk of death compared to those who walked fastest–including a threefold increased rate of cardiovascular death.
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Read more study snapshots


Studies-in-Progress/Clinical Trials Underway

A clinical trial is any research study that assigns people to health-related interventions to evaluate the outcomes. “Interventions” include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, preventive care, etc.


Access all studies currently available for Exercise in these databases:

PubMed  Trip Cochrane*

*The Cochrane database requires users to enter the search term manually. Enter “exercise”