Benefits of Physical Activity
Daily physical activity can extend people’s lifespan and improve their overall health. However, you don’t have to run marathons or go to the gym. Walking, raking leaves, and biking to the grocery store – all of it matters.
Importance of Physical Activity
It may seem obvious and intrusive that the idea that physical activity is good for you. Fitness influencers post their workouts on social media, news reports promote the benefits of exercise, and governments around the world are trying to encourage citizens to move.
However, the current physical activity guidelines in the United States, published in 2018, reported that about 80 percent of adults do not engage in enough physical activity. Adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week, along with muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week, according to the guidelines. (How long should these sessions for muscle strengthening last? “We really don’t know,” says Li).
But scientists are learning that even a little physical activity can be beneficial. Most studies supporting the 2018 recommendations rely on self-reported data, and Li and her colleagues note in an opinion piece published in JAMA in October that people remember exercises like running or swimming. However, it has been challenging to document the multiple movements that we do in our daily lives that scientists now know can improve health.
Today, wearable technology is uncovering these missing movements and bringing them to light. It allows scientists to collect massive amounts of detailed data throughout a person’s day, such as steps taken, acceleration, and heart rate. This helps unveil all the things physical activity (or lack thereof) can do for people’s health.
Even a Little Helps
Last year, scientists showed that individuals who engaged in more physical activity were less likely to be hospitalized for common conditions such as gallbladder disease, diabetes, and urinary tract infections. This data adds to recent studies based on surveys and clinical trials linking physical exercise to reduced risks of death from influenza and pneumonia, improved memory and attention, and better outcomes after COVID-19 infection.
The team led by Bryant Weber, a preventive medicine physician at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, showed that it’s never too late to start. In a study involving over 100,000 individuals aged 65 and older, it appeared that aerobic training and muscle strengthening reduced the risk of death over the next eight years. Even people over the age of 85 saw benefits, according to Weber, who did the work while at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. “We were impressed.”
Some people may be gaining the benefits of physical activity without realizing it. The team led by Stamatakis in Australia studies incidental activity: the typical routine movements people make in their daily lives. His team analyzed data from people who do not exercise in their leisure time but wore tracking devices for a week. Just a minute or two of vigorous activity – like climbing stairs or running to catch a train – several times a day reduced the risk of death in the following seven years by about 40 percent, according to Stamatakis and colleagues in 2022. The more activity, the better, he says. And last year, his team linked three and a half minutes of daily vigorous activity to about an 18 percent reduced risk of cancer.
Walking
Upward, carrying the heavy grocery bag, “a little out of breath,” says Stamatakis. Any burst of effort that raises your heart rate a few times a day can have long-term health benefits, he says. This is something many don’t understand. In interviews with middle-aged people, Stamatakis heard a common assumption. “Most of them still think you have to go to the gym, otherwise there’s no benefit.”
But don’t get him wrong, Stamatakis is not saying people should disregard the gym. “I want to make it clear that exercising is a great option,” he says. But for those who cannot afford a gym membership or cannot or do not want to do conventional workouts, intense intermittent activities several times a day can be good too.
Questions and Comments
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Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/physical-activity-exercise-health-benefits
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