Higher weekly activity levels linked to lower risk of 5 chronic diseases

It actually doesn’t take that much to fend off many ailments like cancer, heart attacks and diabetes.

A new study has found that regular exercise may help ward off at least five common diseases, demonstrating yet again the importance of regular physical activity for one’s health and wellbeing. You could get that amount by doing 10 minutes of climbing stairs, 20 minutes of running, 25 minutes of walking or cycling, 20 minutes of gardening, and 15 minutes of vacuuming, according to a BMJ statement. The MET-minutes can estimate how much energy you burn during physical activity.

Nonetheless, he says the results confirm that higher levels of weekly physical are linked to reduced risk in all five common chronic conditions and that most people could achieve 10 MET-hours per week by running for 75 minutes or walking for two and a half hours per week.

Many studies have shown the health benefits of physical activity. It is to be noted that the optimum exercise level as suggested in the study is nearly five to six times higher than now recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) that is 600 metabolic equivalent (MET) minutes a week, reported Daily Mail.

Housework, gardening, walking, and cycling were some of the examples the researchers gave for physical activities.

And second, they say, future research should pay more attention to total weekly activity-and not just leisure-time exercise, as many studies have done-to provide a better picture of how people can meet healthy activity goals in real-life settings. Overall, a higher level of physical activity was associated with a 7 per cent lower risk of total cancer.

Canvassing almost 200 studies in half a dozen countries – including the United States, China, India and South Africa – the researchers found that sharp reductions in disease risk required at least 3,000 to 4,000 of these “MET minutes” per week.

But this needs to be much higher than the current recommendation to achieve larger reductions in risks.

Although they can not tell us about cause and effect, meta-analyses involving observational research are useful for pulling evidence together. The researchers believe that the findings have several implications.

“More studies using the detailed quantification of total physical activity will help to find a more precise estimate for different levels of physical activity”, they conclude.

As the French researchers from the International Prevention Research Institute for Lyon mentioned, the study covers an important aspect of our lifestyle that can prove to be of paramount importance in preventing chronic diseases.