How much physical activity is needed for better health?

What is it about?

Both cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) cause millions of deaths each year. Public health experts are now studying how physical activity (PA) can improve long-term health outcomes and reduce these deaths. The authors of this paper measured the relationship between PA done outside of work and the risk of CVD, various cancers, and other causes of death. They utilized data from published studies to develop a new framework. This framework explores how the type of PA influences deaths due to specific cancers and CVD. The authors applied their new framework to a large dataset. They analyzed data from more than 30 million subjects collected from 196 studies. The studies reported PA differently but used the same measurement: how much energy is used during activities, called mMET-hours/week. The large dataset used for the analysis makes this paper's findings more robust.

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Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The authors produced a unique insight based on the results. They generated population impact factors (PIFs) for their dataset. The PIFs helped them to estimate the number of preventable deaths for a given level of PA. In this way, the findings are relevant to public health programs. Doing moderate PA for just 75 minutes a week can lower the risk of death from chronic diseases. This is less than the suggested 150 minutes. Ten percent of premature deaths could have been avoided if people reached even half of the recommended level of PA. KEY TAKEAWAY: Encouraging inactive people to increase their physical activity levels to at least half of the current health recommendations can lead to significant health benefits.