A recent study published in JAMA Oncology suggests that engaging in just four to five minutes of "vigorous physical activity" can significantly reduce the risk of cancer among individuals who have previously been inactive.
Researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, conducted this study by analyzing data from 22,398 adults with an average age of 62, who had not been regularly exercising. These participants wore activity trackers for a week, and their health outcomes were monitored over several years, including cancer-related diagnoses, hospitalizations, and deaths.
The results of the study revealed that individuals who incorporated short daily bouts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA), on average of 4.5 minutes per day, experienced a 32% reduction in the risk of "physical activity-related cancer incidence."
This includes kidney, bladder, stomach, and lung cancers, as documented in medical records spanning six to seven years.
As for those who engaged in slightly shorter daily sessions, of about 3.4 to 3.6 minutes per day, the risk of developing cancer was still significantly reduced, by 17% to 18%.
Lead author of the study, Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, in a press release announcing the study findings, said, “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.”
Activities that qualify as VILPA include climbing stairs, carrying heavy groceries, completing physical household chores, brisk walking, and engaging in high-energy games with children.
However, the study had some limitations, and the biggest of them all is the fact that 96% of the participants analyzed were of White ethnicity.
