Moderate exercise gives great results

exerciseExercise.Photo: Pixabay

A quick walk once or twice a week is enough to reduce the risk of dying from myocardial infarction, stroke or cancer, according to a new study.

The study includes 90,000 people and shows that those who walk or work in the garden from 10 minutes to an hour, once a week have 18 percent less chance of dying, for whatever reason, than from a full-time sedentary life.

Increase the moderate physical activity effort to between two and a half and five hours a week, best if broken down to ten minutes intervals, this reduces the risk of premature death by 31 percent, the study shows.

Those who really favor exercise with more than 25 hours a week halve the risk of death. The activities that increase the pulse and heart rate, such as cycling, jogging and competitive sports, are more effective than other moderate-intensive activities within the same time period.

For cardiovascular disease alone, no extra benefit was measured by increasing the effort from five to 25 hours a week, the study said.

The survey was conducted by researchers at Shandong University in northern China. The subjects included in the study lived in the United States between 1997 and 2008 and participated in a national mapping of health and physical activity.

This information was then raised against registered deaths until 2011. The authors emphasize that the study is based on observations and that no solid conclusions can be drawn based on cause and effect.

They point out that the data is based on self-reporting and that this is a weakness of the method. However, the researchers believe that the large number partially outweighs this weakness.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today