Study shows people who get less than 20 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity each day had the highest risk of death
To walk or not, to run or not, how much to run, whether to do weights or not, these are questions bothering every fitness and health enthusiasts. Turns out, whatever you do and however long you do it, there are always benefits to be had.
It turns out that any and all of those things, even in short bursts throughout the day could work to reduce the risk of disease and death, according to research appearing in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“For about 30 years, guidelines have suggested that moderate-to-vigorous activity could provide health benefits, but only if you sustained the activity for 10 minutes or more. That flies in the face of public health recommendations, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and parking farther from your destination. Those don’t take 10 minutes, so why were they recommended?” said study author and distinguished professor William E. Kraus, M.D., of the Duke University School of Medicine. ”
Kraus’s study found that even brief trips up and down stairs would count toward accumulated exercise minutes and reducing health risks so long as the intensity reaches a moderate or vigorous level. Moderate exertion was defined as brisk walking at a pace that makes it hard to carry a conversation. Boosting that pace to a jog would be vigorous exercise for most people, he said.
Current guidelines, recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, ideally spread out over several days.
Those who got 60 minutes per day cut their risk of death by more than half — 57 percent. Getting at least 100 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity per day cut risk of death by 76 percent, the data showed.
For the study, Kraus and investigators from the National Cancer Institute analyzed data from 4,840 people 40 and older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006. Participants wore accelerometers to quantify their physical activity and exertion. Using a national database, the researchers determined 4,140 participants were still living in 2011.
The most dramatic improvements in the overall risk for death and disease can occur with a relatively small amount of effort, and the more you do, the better the benefits, Kraus said.
In the study, people who got less than 20 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity each day had the highest risk of death. Those who got 60 minutes per day cut their risk of death by more than half — 57 percent. Getting at least 100 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity per day cut risk of death by 76 percent, the data showed.
