Half hour daily activity backed in new analysis

Friday August 23rd, 2019

People who undertake daily physical activity, regardless of intensity, may gain the optimal health benefits, researchers have reported.

A new analysis supports recommendations that people undertake 30 minutes of activity daily.

The multi-national team of researchers, including from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), also show that being sedentary for 9.5 hours or more a day (excluding sleeping time) is associated with an increased risk of death.

The research, published in the latest edition of The BMJ, analysed observational studies assessing physical activity and sedentary time with all-cause mortality.

Professor Ulf Ekelund at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, led the research, which analysed eight studies involving 36,383 adults aged 40 and over. All the studies used accelerometers to objectively measure daily activity levels.

Activity levels were categorised into quarters, from least to most active, and participants were tracked for an average of 5.8 years.

During follow-up, 5.9% participants died and researchers found that any level of physical activity, regardless of intensity, was associated with a substantially lower risk of death.

Deaths fell steeply as total activity increased up to a plateau at 300 minutes a day. A similarly steep decrease in deaths occurred with increasing duration of light physical activity up to a plateau of about 300 minutes per day and of moderate intensity physical activity of about 24 minutes per day.

Co-author Professor Tom Yates, a professor of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health at the University of Leicester, said: "These results are fantastic. It has previously been widely assumed that more is better in terms of physical activity for health.

"However, this study suggests health may be optimised with just 24 minutes per day of brisk walking or other forms of moderate-intensity physical activity.”

Co-author Dr Charlotte Edwardson, an associate professor in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health at the University of Leicester, said the findings really reinforce the saying 'Doing something is better than doing nothing'.

“They show that physical activity of any intensity lowers the risk of death, so if you're someone who doesn't achieve the recommended levels of moderate intensity physical activity, then doing more light activity, for example, pottering around more at work or at home and just generally being on your feet more, will still be beneficial.”

Ekelund U, Tarp J, Steene-Johannessen J et al. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all-cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. BMJ 22 August 2019

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4570

Tags: Fitness | General Health | UK News

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