Health: A little physical activity is enough to feel better

A large study published Wednesday concluded that even when reduced to just a few minutes a day, physical activity is associated with lower mortality. The “small increase” in inactive people is enough to provide “significant protection,” sums up this work published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The health benefits of physical activity are well known and the subject of a very large number of studies. But there are some points that need to be made clear, such as the exact level of activity necessary to measurably improve one’s health. The study attempted to answer this question based on nearly 200 pre-existing works, the conclusions of which have sometimes proven conflicting.

But by pooling all this data representing a total sample of 30 million people, and by weighting it according to the degree of rigor of the studies, the researchers concluded that the effects of physical activity can be noticed quickly.

“Ten big minutes a day.”

In the case of a completely inactive person, it is sufficient for him to engage in barely more than one hour of activity per week, qualified as moderate to vigorous, to reduce the risk of early death by almost a quarter (23%). “You just have to put in 10 big minutes a day,” epidemiologist Soren Bragg of the University of Cambridge and one of the study’s authors told AFP. “And you don’t have to go to the gym, it can be part of everyday life.”

Therefore, brisk walking is considered a moderate to intense activity. So Surin Prague raises the possibility of walking part of a business trip. In detail, the conclusions of the study are rather favorable depending on the cause of death: the association, for example, is more pronounced between regular physical activity and a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, which is in less compensation for cancer deaths.

(AFP)Show comments