Regular Exercise Lowers Disease Risk

Regular exercise reduces the risk of five most common diseases.

Researchers found that regular exercise lowers the risk of five most common diseases. The higher level of physical activity has been associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, breast and bowel cancer.

Many studies highlight the benefits of physical activities which is why the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends increasing our daily activity level. Whether we engage more in domestic activities such as gardening or housework or manifest more interest in active transportation such as cycling or walking, increasing our daily activity rate is highly recommended by specialists.

The advised physical activity level is approximately 75 minutes per week of running or 150 minutes of alert walking every week. The researchers used a formula named MET-minutes to appraise how much physical activity can present the higher health benefit. The MET-minutes can estimate how much energy you burn during physical activity.

Researchers from the US and Australia examined how much surpassing the advised levels can decrease one’s risk of the five common chronic diseases. They found that for all five diseases risks went down as exercise went up.

For a larger reduction in the risks of these diseases, the total physical activity must be several times higher than the advised minimum level of 600 MET-minutes/week. The biggest benefits are at 3,000 to 4,000 MET-minutes a week, the study showed. By adding daily activities such as climbing stairs, running or cycling to our routine, we can achieve those MET-minutes.

At this level of physical activity, heart disease risk dropped by a fifth, colon cancer and diabetes risk fell by a sixth and breast cancer risk decreased by about a twentieth.

June Davison, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation mentioned that adults must be active each day and engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. Unfortunately, only two in five adults manage to accomplish this minimum recommendation.

With an increased level of diabetes and cardiovascular deaths and an aging population, we must focus on promoting physical activities to the general public, researchers mentioned.

By being active, we not only decrease the risk of heart disease and illnesses, including cancer, but we also improve our general well-being and mental health.

Image source:Public Domain

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.