10 minutes a day could be lifesaving as per a new study

According to a new study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, over 110,000 US deaths may be prevented every year if adults over 40 added 10 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity to their normal routines.

If one were to increase it by 20 or 30 minutes it could lead to even more lives saved, the study also noted.

“We know exercise is good for us. This study provides additional evidence of the benefits at the population level: if all adults in the United States (over age 40) were to exercise just a bit more each day, a large number of deaths could be prevented each year,” said Pedro Saint-Maurice, the study’s first author and an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute said.

The process employed to perform the study was stringent, said Peter Katzmarzyk, professor of pediatric obesity and associate executive director for population and public health sciences at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Although the number of prevented deaths is an estimate, it “is a valid approach since it would be almost impossible to conduct an actual human trial to manipulate people’s activity levels and look at long term outcomes like deaths,” said Katzmarzyk.

“We have reported previously that even a little bit of exercise can result in health benefits,” said Saint-Maurice. “This study doesn’t focus on the benefits for individuals, but rather at the level of the population. We can make our nation healthier by encouraging everyone to add an additional 10 minutes of activity or more each day.”

Walking outside or on a treadmill is one of the best and simplest ways to bring consistent physical activity into your life, Santas said.

Yoga, for those who are practised at it and those less so, is another great option, with the added benefits of stress relief and the ease of online access to all levels of instruction, Santas said.

With no equipment, it is easy to get in four rounds of three-minute bodyweight exercises — and you get an extra two minutes of benefit.

The key is finding a sequence of movements that will moderately work your full body, balancing upper body strength, lower body strength and cardiovascular exercise, like 10 to 25 pushups, 25 to 40 squats and a minute of jogging in place, Santas said.

And when in doubt, just always dance it out.

Turning on some of your favourite songs and moving alone in your kitchen or grabbing family and friends in the living room is an exercise that feels more like a celebration. It takes only three or four songs to get you to your 10-minute goal, Santas said, but no one will blame you if you can’t stop there.

Exercise doesn’t have to be gruelling to be effective, and bumping up your routine by just a little bit can have huge impacts, the experts said.

Source: Agencies