Blog & Newsletter Archives

A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

A little exercise goes a long way according to a new study. Taiwanese researchers examined more than 400,000 study participants in a 12-year period. Patients reported their weekly exercise regimen and were then placed in one of five groups: inactive, low, medium, high or very high exercise activity.

The study, published in Lancet this week, found that people in the low-exercise group averaged 15 minutes of fitness per day. They reduced their risk of dying from cancer by 10 percent and had a three-year longer life expectancy than the inactive group.

With every additional 15 minutes of exercise per day, participants reduced their risk of dying from cancer by another 1 percent, and the risk of dying by 14 percent. In the study, low levels of fitness represented 15 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, which was described as any activity that makes a person short of breath, but able to carry on a conversation. Examples of such exercise include brisk walking, easy jogging, biking and ballroom dancing for you Dancing With The Stars fans. Other ways to incorporate those 15 minutes into your busy day…climb the stairs, park in the far corner of the lot, mow the lawn, or vigorously clean a room.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults work in at 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, those who are inactive can realize true benefits with just 15 minutes of exercise – but I still recommend the Golden Rule of 30 minutes so don't cut back from 150 minutes a week to 90.