How much exercise do you need?
It’s reasonably well-known that a good diet will incorporate five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, but how much exercise will benefit us? The NHS recommends that adults should exercise at a moderate level of intensity for thirty minutes five days a week, or 150 minutes in total. So that’s your exercise equivalent of five per day.
In helping to setup this website I have read a large number of research documents, one of which stood out from all the others in terms of its message and impact on me.
It’s called ‘Exercise; the miracle cure’ and was written in 2015 by a number of medical professionals of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
The document pulled together a number of different research projects studying the impact of exercise on different health conditions with the aim of summarising the research findings.
What most struck me was the tabular summary of the impact of exercise on different health conditions, topped off by a headline grabbing-statement that achieving the recommended level of exercise reduces all-cause mortality by 30%.
The table referred to is summarised here:-
%reduction in a person’s chance of developing each condition by doing the recommended level of exercise
All-cause mortality 30%
Heart disease 40%
Hypertension 30%
Stroke 17%
Type 2 diabetes 50%
Obesity 10%
Breast cancer 25%
Bowel cancer 45%
Depression 30%
Dementia 30%
Low back pain 40%
Osteoarthritis 50%
Falls in elderly 40%
Osteoporosis 40%
Major fractures 50%
The full report is available here:-
https://www.aomrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Exercise_the_Miracle_Cure_0215.pdf
If you want a short inspiring story about the benefits of exercise (and good diet and work) you will enjoy listening to Charles Eugster. He was a Brit who lived in Switzerland and got active after retiring as a dentist.
He gave an excellent TED Talk which you can view here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGgoCm1hofM
There's also an engaging book by him; 'Age is just a Number' which you can find on Amazon
What are your reflections/questions having read this piece?