Do 5-7 times more exercise than WHO recommendations to reduce risk of 5 common diseases

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommend 600 metabolic equivalent minutes (MET minutes) of physical activity each week, the equivalent or 150 minutes of brisk walking or 75 minutes of running. A new study from the USA and Australia published in the British Medical Journal analysed 174 studies published between 1980 and 2016 concluded that to reduce the risk of breast and bowel cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke the recommendations need to be increased by a total of 5-7 times to 3,000-4,000 MET minutes.  

The study suggests to reduce the risk of these 5 common diseases people should be doing either 6 and a 1/4 hours of vigorous activity or 12 and a 1/2 hours of moderate activity a week.  According to Dr Justin Varney, national lead for adult health and wellbeing at Public Health England "Currently 1 in 5 adults do less than 30 minutes of activity per week". 

Below are the WHO Global Reccomendations on Physical Activity for Health

In adults aged 18-64, physical activity includes leisure time physical activity, transportation (e.g. walking or cycling), occupational (i.e. work), household chores, play, games, sports or planned exercise, in the context of daily, family, and community activities.

The recommendations in order to improve cardiorespiratory and muscular tness, bone health, reduce the risk of NCDs and depression are:

1. Adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate - and vigorous-intensity activity.

2. Aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration.

3. For additional health bene ts, adults should increase their moderate- intensity aerobic physical activity to 300 minutes per week, or engage in 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate - and vigorous-intensity activity.

4. Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.