Exercise—along with eating a nutritious diet and managing stress—is one of the keys to living well and longer. But figuring out exactly which exercise plan works best for you isn’t simple.

A new study may offer some clarity. Researchers tracked more than 100,000 people who reported their physical activity over roughly 30 years and found that mixing up how you move could play a role in living a longer life.

The team analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which included healthy healthcare workers who shared details about their exercise habits—what type of activity they did and how long they did it—every few years for three decades. They then compared deaths from causes like heart disease, cancer, and respiratory illnesses to these exercise patterns to identify which were linked to increased longevity.

As expected, people who exercised more on average had a 4% to 17% lower risk of death during the study period (depending on the activity type) compared to those who exercised less. But when the scientists broke down the data by exercise type, they found that even among people with similar total activity levels, those who did a combination of exercises had an extra 19% lower risk of death than those who stuck to the same routine.

“Staying consistent with total activity amount is still the most important factor,” says Yang Hu, a research scientist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of the paper. “But on top of that, trying to diversify your activities by doing different things might give you additional benefits.”

In the study, vigorous walking was tied to the largest reduction in early death risk (17%) compared to those who walked less, followed by running (13%), stair climbing (10%), and resistance training (9%).

(Swimming wasn’t associated with a measurable benefit in the study, but Hu notes this might be because people define swimming differently—from casual floating in a pool to intense lap sessions.)

There’s a reason why switching up your routine could maximize benefits. Previous research has shown different exercises offer unique perks: activities like running, swimming, and walking support heart and respiratory health, lowering the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, while strength training better preserves muscle mass and helps prevent falls (especially in older adults). Hu adds that individual activities generally hit a “plateau” where doing more doesn’t bring much extra health benefit. Combining exercises can optimize these benefits and lead to added protection against early death.

“We suspect that doing a variety of physical activities lets people tap into two or more aspects of exercise,” Hu says. “We want to make the case that mixing aerobic and resistance or strength training may have complementary benefits.”