Pick an activity which puts you out of breath, study finds protection against eight major diseases

Just a few minutes of getting out of breath has been found to significantly reduce the risk of major diseases, a study has found out.

While activities like working out in a gym or brisk walking have been associated with good health outcomes, moments of vigorous activity like running after a bus or panting after climbing a flight of stairs often go unnoticed but are linked to a striking decrease in the disease risk.

The study published in the European Heart Journal has found out that intensity of the physical activity is as important as the duration for which it is done.

Including small bursts of vigorous activity in a day can reduce the risk of eight major diseases.

It also found some health conditions can be prevented using intense vigorous movements, others need a blend of both intensity and duration.

What did the study find?

Led by professor Minxue Shen, the team at the Central South University in Hunan, China analysed physical activity of over 96,000 people, with most of them a part of the UK Biobank. 

The participants were asked to wear wrist-based accelerometers for a week to keep a track of their total physical activity and the high-intensity physical episodes which forced them to lose breath.

The team then compared these findings separately and assessed participants' likelihood of dying from eight major diseases in the next seven years.

Some of the factors taken into consideration were also ethnicity, sex, lifestyle, frailty index score, body-mass index, blood pressure, use of medications and others.

The risk of dying from the following diseases was assessed: irregular heartbeat, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory diseases, liver disease, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease and dementia.

The results showed people who engaged in vigorous movement had a lower risk of dying from these diseases, with the individuals having the highest vigorous activities having 63 percent lower risk of dementia, a 60 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a 46 percent lower risk of death. 

Amount versus duration

Traditionally, the number of hours a person engaged in physical activity had been more important for well being, however, newer studies are challenging this thought.

As per Science Daily, during vigorous activity, the body experiences intense reactions such as the heart pumping faster, blood vessels becoming more flexible and an increased intake of oxygen. These sudden changes have a significant impact on the body.

The study suggested the kind of activity is as important as the duration for which it is done.

It found the risk for some inflammatory diseases like arthritis and psoriasis could be reduced with vigorous activity, however, for conditions like diabetes and liver disease, both the nature of activity and time was of importance.

The study also recognised that vigorous activities like running or jumping were not good for people with older people or those with certain medical conditions.