More than 1,800 cases of cancer diagnosed in Australia this year are likely a direct result of physical inactivity and its links to obesity.
A University of Sydney study showed that the more you move at a higher intensity as part of daily life, the lower your risk of developing cancer, particularly the 13 types associated with physical inactivity.
These include liver cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), endometrial cancer, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer, to the breast and esophagus.
A total of just four and a half minutes of vigorous activity that keeps you huffing and puffing during daily activities could reduce your risk of some cancers by up to 32%.
The basic idea is that instead of condensing your daily exercise into a single session, you perform micro-workouts throughout the course of the day.
Study participants – 25,000 non-practitioners with an average age of 62 – who wore wrist-worn accelerometers, were monitored daily and had their medical records recorded over seven years to track cancer.
Even just four to five minutes of vigorous intermittent physical activity (VILPA) was associated with a substantially lower cancer risk than no VILPA.
The activities could be ones you do every day, but done in short periods and with gusto. These include vigorous housework, carrying heavy groceries around the grocery store, bursts of brisk walking, or playing high-energy games with grandchildren.
Lead author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis of the university’s Charles Perkins Center said adults who do not exercise are at greater risk of developing certain cancers such as breast, endometrial or colon cancer, but until Not long ago the impact of less structured forms of vigorous physical activity was not able to be measured.
“It is only through the advent of wearable technology such as activity trackers that we are able to observe the impact of short periods of casual physical activity carried out as part of daily life,” he said.
“If we take the opportunity to get breathless and raise our heart rate for a couple of minutes and repeat this process consistently multiple times a day, there are very promising health benefits. While I let the coffee brew in the morning, I do some dips on the countertop or a series of push-ups.
Those who practice VILPA approve of the study results.
“I understand the value of persevering with VILPA,” one user said. “Not having the time or discipline to go to the gym every day, exercise snacks have proven surprisingly easy to incorporate into my work schedule.”
