Is it a good idea to exercise in polluted areas? What new research says

We all know the importance of exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. But if you live in a highly polluted city, you might sometimes wonder whether exercising amid such bad air offers enough benefit or not.

Well, researchers from Hong Kong assessed over 384,000 adults for 15 years and confirmed that habitual exercise done even in areas with polluted air, can lower your risk of death from natural causes.

Published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the study notes that regular exercise reduces the risk of death regardless of exposure to air pollution, and air pollution generally increases the risk of death regardless of exercise habits.

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This means that exercising regularly can be employed as a health improvement strategy, even for people with a higher pollution exposure. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that even amidst polluted air, the benefits of regular exercise are significantly higher than the harms of physical inactivity.