We’ve already seen plenty of research showing us the many benefits of exercise, from lowering blood pressure to perking up your mood. We’re already convinced, but the research keeps coming, and a new study reveals how many minutes of heart rate-raising exercise you need to do every day to lower your risk of 19 health conditions. That’s worth knowing about, especially with the rates of chronic disease on the rise in the United States.
Seeing more and more people interested in prioritizing health and fitness is refreshing, and this new study gives us another reason to go for that run or stay true to that workout schedule. It turns out you don’t have to work out for hours to protect yourself from this many diseases. Let’s look at the new research.
The study
In a study published in Preventing Chronic Disease, researchers wanted to explore whether exercise can be considered a ‘vital sign’ of health in the same way as pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and breathing. The researchers from the University of Iowa pointed out how physical activity is rarely measured or managed in primary care settings, and they wanted to know if screening patients for physical inactivity is worthwhile.
Finding out how regularly someone exercises as part of a health assessment tells us a lot about their overall health and wellness. The researchers asked 7,261 patients to attend checkups regarding their activity status. During these checkups, researchers gathered information on their disease diagnoses and resting pulse. They asked patients the following questions:
- On average, how many days per week do you engage in moderate to vigorous exercise, like a brisk walk?
- On average, how many minutes do you engage in exercise at this level?
The results
The results showed that:
- 60% of participants were considered active.
- 36% were insufficiently active.
- 4% were inactive.
The highest level of physical activity involved exercising moderately to vigorously for at least 150 minutes per week or for 22 minutes a day. Those who reported the highest level of physical activity had a significantly lower risk of 19 chronic conditions, including diabetes, respiratory disease, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. On the flip side, those who completed the least exercise had the highest risk of all 19 conditions.
Concluding thoughts
The researchers concluded that exercise can definitely be considered a vital sign because activity levels tell us so much about a person’s individual health and health risks. Screening people for their activity level, as well as checking their blood pressure, temperature, and other vital signs, can help doctors prompt earlier interventions, treatments, and lifestyle changes. Answering those two questions takes less than a minute.
Our bodies were made to move, and this study only confirms that. You’re well on your way to reducing disease risk and boosting your health if you can manage 22 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise or a total of 150 minutes a week split up how you’d like. The goal is to get your heart rate up in the best way that works for you, whether that’s going for a run or bike ride, brisk walking, strength training, or taking a short high-intensity interval training or aerobics class.
