Don’t feel like hitting the gym or going to spin class? If you’ve got 11 minutes to take a brisk walk, you’ll be making a big difference for your health. A new study shows that doing that small amount of exercise every day is enough to lower the risk of stroke, heart disease and several cancers.
Researchers from Cambridge University analyzed 196 peer-reviewed studies involving over 30-million participants to find the link between physical activity and cancer, heart disease and early death. They found:
- A daily 11-minute brisk walk, which adds up to about 75 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week, lowers the risk of early death overall by 23%.
- It also reduces the risk of developing cancer by 7% and heart disease by 17%.
- For head and neck cancer, myeloma, myeloid leukemia, myeloma and gastric cardia cancers, the risk drops between 14 and 26%. For other cancers, including breast and colon, it lowers the risk between 3 and 11%
- It doesn't have to be walking, it can be dancing, riding a bike, playing with your kids or anything that makes your heart beat faster, but isn’t so intense it leaves you breathless.
"We know that physical activity, such as walking or cycling, is good for you, especially if you feel it raises your heart rate,” explains study author Professor James Woodcock. “But what we've found is there are substantial benefits to heart health and reducing your risk of cancer even if you can only manage 10 minutes every day.”
Source: CBS News