Being active is good for you: why it matters, how much is enough and which kinds of activity studies link to a longer life

In this article you will read why ‘exercise is good for you’ holds true, how much movement a day the Dutch guidance asks for, what large studies saw in people who move more, and which kinds of movement go together with more years of life. That matters, because the gain is greatest for the people who move the least, and fewer than half of Dutch people met the physical activity guidelines in 2025.⁠⁴ The BioProfile lifestyle scan gives you an indication of where you stand with your lifestyle today. The scan is not a diagnosis. It is insight, to see where you stand today and to help you make better choices in your diet and lifestyle. The scan does not point to a cause and does not say what is going on in your body. Only a doctor can do that.

Being active is good for you: but why?

The Gezondheidsraad, which advises the Dutch government on health, concludes that enough activity goes together with a lower risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, of depressive symptoms and, in older people, of broken bones.⁠⁵

The largest summary to date pooled 94 cohorts with more than 30 million adults. Adults who reached the recommended amount, around 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week, had a clearly lower risk of dying during the studies than adults who did nothing. The difference came close to a third for death from any cause and for death from heart and vascular disease, and it was smaller for death from cancer. If all the adults who moved too little had met the guideline, around one in six early deaths would not have happened.⁠² For you, this means that going from sitting still to meeting the guideline is the step that counts most.

The same pattern holds for your mood. In 15 cohorts with 191,130 adults, people who did half the recommended amount had about a fifth less risk of depression than people who did nothing, and people who did the full amount about a quarter less.⁠⁶ Even half the advice already brings something. These studies follow people over a period of years. They show that more movement goes together with a lower risk, and that is a weaker statement than showing that movement alone causes that lower risk.⁠²

How much movement a day is healthy?

For adults, Thuisarts advises at least two and a half hours of movement a week, for example 30 minutes of active movement on five days, sometimes 20 minutes of very active movement, and strengthening your bones and muscles twice a week.⁠¹ Children are advised to be active for at least an hour a day and also to do activities that strengthen their muscles and bones.⁠⁵

Steps give you a second yardstick. In 15 cohorts with 47,471 adults, the risk of death kept falling with more steps up to 6,000 to 8,000 a day in people aged 60 and over, and up to 8,000 to 10,000 a day in younger adults.⁠⁷ Put simply: a daily walk already takes you a good way along that curve.

Most people in the Netherlands are not there yet. In 2025, 47 per cent of people aged 4 and over met the guidelines: 60 per cent of children aged 4 to 11, 41 per cent of young people, 48 per cent of adults aged 18 to 64 and 41 per cent of people aged 65 and over.⁠⁴ So if you stay below the advice, you are in the majority and you have the most to gain.

What happens when you move more

One study pooled 36,383 adults who wore an activity tracker, so their movement was not just remembered but also measured. Compared with the least active quarter, the next quarter had about half the risk of dying during the study period, and the most active quarter about a quarter of that risk. Light movement on its own, such as slow walking or chores around the house, was also linked to a clearly lower risk.⁠³ In short: light movement counts too.

Above the advice, the extra gain gets smaller. Most of the difference lay between doing nothing and meeting the advice, and above about twice the advice the differences became small and uncertain.⁠²

A Dutch cohort shows the same thing. In Lifelines, with 142,493 adults in the three northern provinces, healthy people who were active at all had roughly a quarter less risk of a serious heart or blood vessel event, or of death, than inactive people. For these healthy people, moving even more lowered the risk only a little further. In people who already had heart or vascular disease, more activity went together with a steadily lower risk.⁠⁸ If you already live with a heart condition, every extra step up in activity still showed in the figures.

Which kind of exercise is best for your body

The Rotterdam Study followed people over 55 and compared walking, cycling, housework, sport and gardening. Men who cycled a lot lived 3.7 years longer and women 2.1 years longer, with more of those years free of cardiovascular disease. Women who did a lot of housework lived 2.6 years longer, and men who did a lot of gardening 2.7 years longer.⁠⁹ The best activity is often the one that is already part of your day. You can read how those years show up in the body in biological age versus calendar age, and what changes as you get older gives the wider picture.

Why long periods of sitting count too

In the activity tracker study, the quarter of adults who sat the most had a risk of dying during the study period more than two and a half times as high as the adults who sat the least.⁠³ If you sit for long stretches, the advice is to get up every half hour and walk around for a moment.⁠¹ A short walk between your tasks is part of the advice.

When to see a doctor

Stop and contact your GP if, while moving or exercising, you become short of breath or your chest feels tight, you hear a wheezing sound when you breathe, you get chest pain or your joints start to bother you.⁠¹

What the lifestyle scan measures

The lifestyle scan asks about your habits and gives you a score as a starting point. A questionnaire does not look inside your heart, your lungs or your joints. The scan is not a diagnosis. Do the scan again later and you have two numbers to compare instead of a feeling.

In summary

Being active is good for you because enough activity goes together with a lower risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depressive symptoms and broken bones.⁠⁵ The advice is two and a half hours a week, plus exercises for your bones and muscles twice a week.⁠¹ The biggest gain comes from going from nothing to meeting the advice.⁠² Light activity, cycling and gardening all count.⁠^3,9