The Daily Telegraph - Features
It’s the type of exertion that counts, says a new cancer study. Leah Hardy reports The best regular exercises to help you live longer
If you want to live a long life, get moving. And if you are already moving? Move more. This week, a global study was published that found that being active could cut the risk of being diagnosed with any type of breast cancer by 40 per cent and that excess sitting could double the risk of being diagnosed with cancer. Slightly horrifying news for the deskbound among us and just another reminder that regular exercise is not really a lifestyle choice, it’s a necessity. To counteract the big killers – that is stroke, heart disease and various cancers – taking regular exercise is a smart preventative measure. But which type is the best and how much should we do?
RUNNING
Time required:
75 to 150 minutes per week
Not unsurprisingly, if you can only give over a couple of hours to exercise every week, you need to make it count. The World Health Organisation recommends running, riding a bike up hills, playing football or netball or doing aerobics. If that sounds nothing short of appalling, a more reassuring 2021 study published in the British Journal of
Sports Medicine found that 30-40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day was enough to offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and even just 11 minutes of exercise a day made a difference to lifespan, providing you are otherwise fairly active for most of the day.
GARDENING
Time required:
150 to 300 minutes per week
More achievable for the majority of us are exercises found in the “moderate” category. Brisk walking, vigorous gardening or even leisurely swimming count as moderate exercise, according to the World Health Organisation, and five hours over the week should be enough. More often than not, it’s just about keeping the pounds at bay. “Being active can help with keeping a healthy weight, which reduces the risk of 13 different types of cancer,” explains Karis Betts, senior health manager at Cancer Research UK. “No matter your age, health or how busy you are there are lots of ways to be more active. Anything that gets you warmer, slightly out of breath, and your heart beating faster counts. So, it doesn’t matter if you go for a cycle with a friend or get the housework done, these all count as ways to be active.”
LIFTING WEIGHTS
Time required: less than an hour per week
More worried about heart disease or stroke? Well, hitting the weights
might be a good move – and possibly for less time than you think. A 2018 study published in
Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise discovered that lifting weights for less than an hour per week could reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke between 40 per cent and 70 per cent. “People may think they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but just two sets of bench presses that take less than five minutes could be effective,” DC Lee, associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Lifting any weight that increases resistance on your muscles is the key,” Lee said. “My muscle doesn’t know the difference if I’m digging in the yard, carrying heavy shopping bags or lifting a dumbbell.”
WALKING
Time required: 30 minutes a day
For stroke prevention, try walking. A 2000 study published in the
Journal of the American Medical
Association found that walking for just half an hour a day could cut a woman’s risk of ischemic stroke – the most common type, caused by a blood clot in the brain – by 20 per cent if they maintain a moderate pace and 40 per cent if they make it a brisk yomp. The researchers suggested that walking helps prevent stroke by lowering blood pressure and helping to maintain a healthy weight. And it’s not just women who benefit. In a 2013 study funded by the British Heart Foundation, men who walked eight to 14 hours per week had approximately a third lower risk of stroke than men who walked less than three hours per week.
RESISTANCE TRAINING
Time required: two 30-minute sessions a week
If straining under a barbell is not your idea of a good time, resistance training has the same effect. Dr Liz O’Riordan is a former NHS breast surgeon and co-author of The Complete Guide
to Breast Cancer recommends women do both aerobic and resistance training to gain the maximum benefits of exercise.
“As a minimum, aim for three, 30-minute vigorous aerobic sessions a week – where you get sweaty and out of breath. The more you do, the lower the risk of cancer. On top of that, you should do two 30-minute resistance sessions a week. This could involve using bodyweight exercises such as push-ups and planks or using resistance bands. This also helps with bone strength after the menopause.”
In fact, while combining different types of exercise appears to be the best approach, strength training does seem to play a vital role in longevity. Research from the University of Sydney found that while combining both strength training and cardio workouts had the best outcomes, strength training was more effective at prolonging life than cardio workouts, reducing the risk of dying from cancer by 31 per cent. The overall likelihood for any type of premature death also decreased by 23 per cent.