At this point no one doubts that the physical exercise It is one of the fundamental ingredients in the recipe for living longer and better, along with a balanced diet and a full social life. The question that many studies continue to want to answer is how much time of physical activity is enough to obtain benefits for our health. And the good news is that you don’t have to invest many hours. Small gestures also add up.
Just replacing one hour of sitting time a week with one hour of physical activity can reduce mortality from all causes, according to a study by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII). The results, published in the journal ‘BMC Public Health’, are not based on theoretical scenarios but on real data.
To carry out the study, data from 30,955 people between 15 and 69 years old who participated in two National Health Surveys, carried out in 2011 and 2017. Information was recorded on the time they spent sitting and the physical activity they performed, depending on whether it was low, moderate or high intensity. These data were linked to the mortality registry of the National Statistics Institute to know the vital status of the participants.
Finally, through an isotemporal substitution analysis using Poisson regression models, the relative risk of death was estimated when replacing sedentary lifestyle (sitting time) with physical exercise.
After an average follow-up of study participants of almost 6 years, 957 deaths were recorded. The results show that replacing one hour per week of sitting time with one hour per week of moderate or high physical activity was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (3.3% lower risk). Analyzing by causes of death, This reduction was 6.7% in cardiovascular diseases and 3.1% in cancer.
If sitting time was replaced by one hour of low-intensity exercise, the risk of mortality from all causes was also reduced, although to a lesser extent, with the risk of dying from all causes decreasing by 1.6%, and by 1.6%. 2.1% for cancer.
The main author of the research, Iñaki Galán, from the National Epidemiology Center (CNE) of the ISCIII, recalls that these results reinforce the public health message that small changes in sedentary behaviors By carrying out physical activity they can have important health benefits. Furthermore, in their opinion, they represent greater motivation for people who, due to various circumstances, cannot carry out physical activity of moderate or high intensity to improve their health, but who can practice activities of lower intensity that, as observed in the study, also reduce the risk of death.
#amount #weekly #exercise #reduce #risk #death #cancer #cardiovascular #disease
