Worrying about how much exercise you do could lead to premature death, expert warns

It could increase your risk of dying early by more than 70 per cent

(Getty Images)

Worrying about how much exercise you are getting could lead to a premature death, a psychologist has warned.

It is believed that the added stress causes people to partake in unhealthy behaviours, such as drinking, and instead of being motivational, friends’ social media updates could actually be making things worse.

In turn, this could raise the risk of dying over the next two decades by more than 70 per cent, finds research.

“This is the time of year when people start to engage in a lot of worry about exercise,” Dr Robin Bailey, a behavioural psychotherapist from the University of Central Lancashire told the Mail Online.

“They worry about having eaten too much ... over Christmas and the way they want to look in the new year.

“However, this stress has been linked to negative effects on health, as people who are stressed engage in unhealthy behaviours, whether that is smoking, drinking too much or failing to exercise because they are so worried about it.”

He also added that it’s important to stop worrying about how much physical activity you are getting compared with others.

The expert’s warning comes after two US studies revealed that worrying about exercise could be a health risk.

Last year a study by Stanford University, which looked at more than 60,000 people, found those who thought they were more inactive than average for their age group were 71 per cent more likely to die in the following 21 years than those who believed they were more active.

It is thought that this could be because people who worry they are unfit are more negative which in turn fuels feelings of stress and depression.

The second study, by Harvard University in 2007, showed hotel workers who were told they met healthy exercise guidelines through cleaning actually lost weight.

Researchers found these workers had lower blood pressure and body fat if they believed they were active – regardless of how much activity they actually did.