The lack of physical activity is very harmful to health and is closely related to the appearance of chronic diseases such as obesity or diabetes, however, it is not necessary to go to the gym every day or exercise until exhaustion to obtain the many benefits of physical exercise, since a new study led by the Vizcaya Primary Care Research Unit of the Basque Health Service has shown that any increase in physical activity reduces the risk of premature death in patients who had been sedentary for years.
The results of the study, which have been published in the British Journal of General Practice, reveal that 50 minutes a week of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, reduces mortality by up to 31% in primary care patients with chronic diseases. The increase in physical activity of these patients was below the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which are 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity.
10 minutes of exercise a day to improve life expectancy
The reduction in mortality was achieved with just 10 minutes a day of exercise, regardless of the patient’s age, their illness, or that they had not “moved from the couch” for years. “The recommended minimum threshold of 150 min/week of moderate physical activity or 75 min/week of vigorous physical activity may be perceived as a barrier for patients who have been long-term inactive. Therefore, the conclusions of our study are very important. Until now we did not know if people who have spent decades doing nothing can recover those benefits. They do, it is reversible, even if your activity is below these recommendations. We have observed that these inactive patients significantly reduce mortality with minimal effort”, stated Dr. Gonzalo Grandes, head of the Bizkaia Primary Care Research Unit and leader of the study.
“We want to implement physical activity as a standard therapy for people with chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer or diabetes”
The researchers followed 3,357 inactive patients between the ages of 19 and 80, who came from 11 health centers in eight autonomous communities, over a period of 15 years. The results show that the mortality of people who reached the minimum recommendations – 150 minutes a week of moderate activity or 75 of moderate movement – was almost 50% lower compared to those who remained inactive. It was also noted that 20% of deaths would not have occurred if all inactive patients had adhered to the recommendations. In addition, with an increase in moderate activity of 50 minutes per week, a 31% reduction in mortality was recorded.
“We want to implement physical activity as a standard therapy for people with chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer or diabetes, but any change in clinical practice has enormous inertia. There are professionals who do not have the necessary training to make a physical activity plan, and even the promotion of public health within the communities would have to be reorganized”, states Dr. Grandes, who adds that the physical activity carried out by a patient should be another parameter to measure your health “such as your blood pressure or your cholesterol. It should become a standard method in Public Health consultations because its preventive and therapeutic character has been demonstrated”.
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