Doing 11 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity daily – such as a brisk walk – would be enough to reduce the risk of early death.
- Doing 75 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity (or 11 per day) leads to a 23% reduction in the risk of premature death.
- 2 out of 3 people do less than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week.
- If reaching the 150-minute goal is good for your health, beneficial effects are seen as early as 75 minutes per week.
- 2 out of 3 people do less than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week.
Do you want to stay healthy as long as possible? Take a brisk walk. A Cambridge university study showed that 11 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking, would be enough to reduce the risk of pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases and a certain number of cancers… and thus prevent early death.
Physical activity: beneficial effects from 75 min per week
To determine the link between physical activity and health effects, scientists examined results reported in 196 peer-reviewed articles, covering more than 30 million participants.
In their article published in British Journal of Sports Medicine on February 28, 2023, researchers found that outside of work-related exercise, two out of three people get less than 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity. Less than one in ten managed to do more than 300 minutes per week.
They notice “that beyond 150 min per week of moderate-intensity activity, the additional benefits in terms of reduced risk of disease or early death were marginal”. Indeed, it is not necessary to be a great sportsman to observe health benefits. Half that duration also showed significant benefits: “accumulating 75 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity resulted in a 23% reduction in the risk of premature death“, writes the team which specifies that this corresponds to 11 minutes per day.
According to their work, this amount of moderate activity would also help reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 17% and cancer by 7%. The reduction in the risk of cancers varied according to the type of tumor: cancers of the ENT sphere, myeloid leukemia, myeloma and cancer of the cardia presented a reduced risk of 14 to 26%. For other cancers, such as lung, liver, endometrial, colon and breast cancer, a 3-11% lower risk has been observed.
One in 10 early deaths avoided with 11 minutes of brisk walking
The researchers calculated the gains from doing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week. This would prevent around one in six early deaths (16%) and reduce the number of cases of cardiovascular disease by 11% and cancer by 5%.
Succeeding in doing 75 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity is also interesting: about one in ten early deaths (10%) would be avoided. One case in twenty (5%) of cardiovascular disease and almost one case in thirty (3%) of cancer would be prevented.
Dr Soren Brage from the University of Cambridge explains in a communicated : “If you’re someone who finds the idea of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week a little daunting, then our results should be good news. Being active is better than doing nothing. This is also a good starting position – if you find that 75 minutes per week is manageable, then you can try to gradually increase it to the full recommended amount.”
Dr Leandro Garcia of Queen’s University Belfast who also participated in the study, adds: “Moderate activity doesn’t have to involve what we normally think of as exercise, like running. Sometimes it’s enough to replace certain habits. For example, try walking or cycling to your workplace or study instead of using a car, or participate in active games with your children or grandchildren Doing activities that you enjoy and that are easy to include in your weekly routine is a great way to become more active .”
