11 minutes of brisk walking per day reduces the risk of premature death!

Doing 11 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking, daily is enough to reduce the risk of premature death.

Physical activity: beneficial effects from as little as 75 minutes per week:-

To determine the link between physical activity and its effects on health, scientists examined results reported in 196 peer-reviewed articles covering more than 30 million participants.

In their article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on February 28th, 2023, the researchers found that, apart from work-related exercise, two out of three people do less than 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity. Less than one in ten individuals managed to do more than 300 minutes per week.

Once you hit the sweet spot of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity, any extra health advantages in terms of lowering the risk of illness or premature death are scant. In fact, it is not necessary to be a great athlete to see health benefits. Half of this duration also showed significant benefits: “accumulating 75 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity led to a 23% reduction in the risk of premature death,” wrote the team, who added that this corresponds to 11 minutes per day.

According to their work, this amount of moderate activity would also help to decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 17% and cancer by 7%. The reduction in the risk of cancer varied depending on the type of tumor: cancers of the head and neck, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, and cardiac cancer showed a reduced risk of 14 to 26%. For other cancers, such as lung, liver, endometrial, colon, and breast cancer, a lower risk of 3 to 11% was observed.

One premature death out of ten can be avoided with 11 minutes of brisk walking:-

The researchers calculated the benefits of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. This would prevent about one premature death out of six (16%) and reduce the number of cases of cardiovascular disease by 11% and cancer by 5%.

Achieving 75 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week is also beneficial: about one premature death out of ten (10%) would be avoided. One in twenty (5%) cases of cardiovascular disease and nearly one in thirty (3%) cases of cancer would be prevented.

Dr. Soren Brage of the University of Cambridge explains in a statement: “If the thought of achieving 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week seems intimidating to you, then our study’s findings may come as a source of relief. Doing physical activity is better than doing nothing. It’s also a good starting point – if you find 75 minutes per week manageable, then you can try gradually increasing it to the total recommended amount.

The study’s co-author, Dr. Leandro Garcia from Queen’s University Belfast, adds: ‘Moderate activity doesn’t necessarily have to involve what we typically think of as exercise, like running. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of replacing certain habits. For example, try walking or cycling to work or school instead of driving, or engage in active games with your children or grandchildren. Doing activities that you enjoy and are easy to incorporate into your weekly routine is a great way to become more active.

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