Your Expensive Boutique Fitness Habit Is Actually Saving You Thousands – ELLE.com

If you die a little inside every time your gym membership takes a sizeable chunk from your bank account, listen up: a new study says your pricey exercise routine is actually saving you money in the long run.

You’ll save $2,500 a year, specifically, thanks to cut medical costs. Published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the report analyzed 26,239 (!!) men and women to determine what being active or inactive costs us in healthcare spending. Additionally, researchers from the number of universities and hospitals involved–including Johns Hopkins, Emory, and Baylor–concluded that being sedentary costs the world economy nearly $68 billion every year. $68 BILLION. In the U.S. alone that figure is $28 billion.

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It makes sense: those who don’t exercise are more likely to develop diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, or colon cancer. Treating those illnesses is expensive.

The researchers determined this data by categorizing the people who participated in a 2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey into two groups: those who did or did not meet national exercise guidelines (which says you should work out moderately for 30 minutes five times a week). Then, they looked at how much each person spent on health care in 2012 and compared it to their physical activity. Those who were active spent $2,500 less a year than those who were not.

While they do note that 30 minutes of walking five days a week is enough to avoid those extra healthcare costs, feel free to consider this your green light to keep going with your boutique fitness subscriptions. Your body and wallet will thank you.

from myhealtyze http://www.myhealtyze.tk/your-expensive-boutique-fitness-habit-is-actually-saving-you-thousands-elle-com/