Practicing less than 5 minutes of daily physical activity per day (climbing stairs, walking your dog, doing housework, etc.) would reduce your risk of cancer by 32%, suggests a new study.
Numerous studies have already demonstrated the benefits of physical activity on cancer prevention. But a recent study, published on July 27, 2023 in the scientific journal Jamaica Oncology, goes further and suggests what to do, if only 4.5 minutes of daily physical activity per day (such as climbing stairs, walking your dog, cleaning, carrying your shopping, gardening, picking up your children from school, etc.) would reduce 32% cancer risk in people who do not exercise. This is what the researchers called the VILPA For “Vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity“, which can be translated into French as “intermittent and vigorous daily physical activity”, in other words everyday physical activitieswhich should however be done of forceful manner. “These small doses of intermittent physical activity can quickly improve cardiorespiratory fitnesse. A higher amount of VILPA has also been specifically associated with a reduced risk breast cancer, endometrial cancer and colon cancer“, describe the scientists. To achieve these results, the researchers followed for more than 6 years a cohort of 22,398 adults aged 62 on average who said they never play sports. Their daily physical activity was assessed using an accelerometer worn on the dominant wrist. Other parameters like age, gender, education level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, sleep duration, fruit and vegetable consumption, cancer history of parents were taken taken into account in adjusting the results.
This discovery is particularly interesting for the prevention of cancers, particularly among populations who cannot or do not want to exercise during their free time. In effect, longer, structured bouts of physical activity (traditional sport) can be unattractive or inaccessible for many people. However, long-term trials More specific and comprehensive information is needed to further explore the potential of VILPA as a cancer prevention measure for people who do not exercise.