The association between weekly exercise patterns and acceleration of aging: Evidence from a population-based study

Background: Acceleration of aging is a major challenge in public health. Previous studies have focused on the associations between specific types of exercise or overall levels of physical activity with accelerated aging, with less attention given to the weekly exercise patterns.

Objective: To explore the relationship between weekly exercise patterns and acceleration of aging among American adults.

Methods: We extracted data from the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), involving 9850 participants aged ≥20 with comprehensive records on exercise and phenotypic age. Hierarchical clustering categorized participants into three groups based on weekly exercise time and days: cluster 1 (Rare or No Exercise), cluster 2 (Moderate Frequency, Moderate Duration) and cluster 3 (Moderate Frequency, Long Duration). Acceleration of aging was defined as the phenotypic age advance >0.

Results: After full adjustment, weekly exercise time and days showed the significant non-linear negative correlation with accelerated aging. The risk of accelerated aging was lowest when weekly exercise days reached five and the weekly exercise time reached three hours. Both cluster 2 and cluster 3 were significantly negatively correlated with acceleration of aging. No significant differences were observed in the association with accelerated aging between cluster 2 and cluster 3.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of targeted exercise programs for healthy aging. They also emphasize the need for public health initiatives to integrate regular physical activity into daily routines to improve the longevity and well-being of American adults.