When it comes to physical activity, the World Health Organization recommends that an adult aged 18-64 should get at least 150 to 300 minutes, or five to six hours, of moderate-intensity aerobic physical exercise each week, while limiting sedentary periods.
But a new study led by the University of Sydney has looked more specifically at how cancer risk can be impacted by “vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity” or “Vilpa” – a term coined by Australian researchers to describe energetic household chores, carrying heavy shopping, or brisk walking, for example.
Published in the journal “Jama Oncology”, their research draws on data from the wearable activity trackers of 22,398 people with an average age of 62, who did not exercise in their leisure time.
This information was then combined with the participants’ clinical health records over a period of almost seven years, to determine whether or not they were affected by cancer.
As a result, the experts now estimate that four to five minutes of vigorous physical activity a day can reduce the risk of certain cancers by up to 32%.
“We know the majority of middle-aged people don’t regularly exercise, which puts them at increased cancer risk, but it’s only through the advent of wearable technology like activity trackers that we are able to look at the impact of short bursts of incidental physical activity done as part of daily living,” said study author Emmanuel Stamatakis.
“It’s quite remarkable to see that upping the intensity of daily tasks for as little as four to five minutes a day, done in short bursts of around one minute each, is linked to an overall reduction in cancer risk.”
In more detail, of the 22,398 participants in the study, the researchers observed 2,356 new cases of cancer over an average follow-up period of 6.7 years, including 1,084 cancers whose risk may be linked to physical activity (liver, lung, kidney, bladder, and breast, in particular).
They also determined that 3.5 minutes of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity per day was sufficient to reduce the risk of cancer by 18%, as opposed to participants who did not exercise at all; and that 4.5 minutes per day reduced the risk of activity-related cancers by 32%.
“We need to further investigate this link through robust trials, but it appears that Vilpa may be a promising cost-free recommendation for lowering cancer risk in people who find structured exercise difficult or unappealing,” Stamatakis concluded.