I conjecture that exercise has a larger effect on quality than quantity of life.
Exercise helps to keep your body less stressed in many ways during its normal day-to-day life. It's good for your immune system, your circulatory system, your digestive system, and even your brain.
A few extra pounds probably won't cut your life short, but chronic heart disease or blood clots or being bedridden in old age definitely can.
In addition, the mental component continuous summary score was significantly higher in the HIIT group compared with control group (P=0.04) and MICT group (P=0.04) after five years (supplementary table S6).