Exercise 10 minutes a day to be healthy? WHO guidelines have lowered the bar
When it comes to exercise, many people's first reaction is: health, self-discipline, vitality, and... Concubines can't do it.
But life lies in exercise, in order to allow sedentary and lazy contemporary young people to exercise a little more, scientists can be described as painstaking: since everyone can't move, then we ... "lower" the standard of exercise ~
WHO's Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour make a very important exercise recommendation for sedentary adults: there are benefits to replacing sitting with exercise of any intensity.
The translation is: Please, stand up and take two steps, there are benefits!
Keep in mind that 10 years have passed since the last update, and the recommendation for exercise duration 10 years ago was at least 10 minutes of exercise.
Source: Lancet literature
What makes WHO's exercise advice downgrade to the point of compromise "just stand up and exercise"?
It starts with everyone really sitting longer and longer.
You sit longer than you think
What is sedentary? The scientific definition of sedentary refers to the low energy expenditure behavior of sitting, reclining or lying down for a long time while awake.
Definition of sedentary behaviour in the 2020 WHO Code of Conduct on Physical Activity and Sedentary
That is to say, not only sitting and watching the computer work, lying on the sofa or bed to brush the mobile phone is also considered a sedentary behavior.
Counting the time of day you sit, it might look like this:
Dr. Lilac cartography
Most people unknowingly fall into a sedentary state.
So in the position, while sitting, twisting, stretching, turning the neck, is it still sitting?
Don't try to exploit loopholes, the World Health Organization also has a special definition of sedentary: physical activity with an activity intensity of less than 1.5 MET (Meto is an indicator of exercise intensity used to represent various activities).
Let's give you a general reference to what is the concept of less than 1.5 MET:
Sleep 0.9 MET
Lie down and watch TV 1 MET
Sit and play the game 1 MET
Sitting and watching TV/movies 1.3 MET
Writing, typing, reading 1.3 MET
By bus, private car 1.3 MET
Standing and calling someone 1.5 MET
Most of what you do is "sedentary behavior", and the minimum standard to break sitting is to stand up and move.
Sitting for a long time really hurts the whole body
After sitting for a long time, many people will have a feeling: butt pain.
But in fact, sitting for a long time hurts more than just the butt. There is growing new evidence linking sitting to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and even cancer and all-cause mortality.
So how long does sitting cause harm? It may only take a few hours a day.
Sitting for a long time increases the risk of cancer
A 2014 META-ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM 43 OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES INCLUDING 68,396 CANCER CASES FOUND THAT THE LONGER YOU SIT, THE HIGHER THE RISK OF CANCERS SUCH AS COLON AND LUNG CANCER. For every 2 hours of sedentary time per day, the risk of colon cancer increases by 8% and the risk of endometrial cancer by 10%.
Prolonged sitting increases the risk of chronic disease
A 2018 meta-study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology showed that sedentary time (including TV viewing time) was associated with a higher risk of several major chronic diseases, such as diabetes, regardless of physical activity. Sedentary time of more than 6~8 hours per day, and TV time of more than 3~4 hours, increase the risk of cardiovascular death.
Sitting for a long time increases the risk of death
A literature from the authoritative academic journal BMJ pointed out that compared with sitting for 7.5 hours a day, the risk of death began to increase significantly after sitting for more than 9.5 hours. The risk of death increases by 10% for 10 hours per day and 12% for 192 hours!
Getting up and moving every now and then is beneficial
Although everyone knows that sitting for a long time is not good, insisting on exercise is healthier, but for daily 996, occasionally 007 workers, they have to sit all the time at work, and they are so tired after work that they just want to be paralyzed.
What to do about it?
The World Health Organization can only recommend this:
Translation: Doing a little is better than not doing it well; Even if the amount of exercise is not up to standard, as long as you do a little, it is good; Exercise should be gradual, slowly increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of exercise.
Simply put, since most people can't do the minimum amount of activity, lower the standard: just exercise.
As long as we can get you moving, our purpose has been achieved. There is no burden when exercising, and the mood is happy after the exercise, it is best to develop an exercise habit, then everyone is happy.
Of course, this is not something that the WHO said casually to coax people:
Less than 10 minutes of exercise can also reduce the risk of disease
A systematic review published in 2019 of the association between duration of physical activity and health found that even less than 10 minutes of exercise can reduce the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular risk, and even premature death.
Short periods of exercise can be accumulated
Another study has found that short periods of exercise a day can be cumulative (such as exercising 3 times a day for 10 minutes each) and can also produce beneficial effects compared to running for 30 minutes continuously.
Any accumulation of activity of any intensity reduces the risk of death
The latest 2020 study published in the BMJ further suggests that accumulation of physical activity of any intensity and less sedentary time are associated with a significantly reduced risk of early death.
These studies are actually saying: Get moving! No matter what! It's good to move!
So what can be done? The following light physical exercises, really recommended you can try:
During the time at home, it is recommended that you have a lot of time: cook a meal, brush a bowl, water a flower, mop the floor, change the sheets, do a laundry, play with children or pets... Not only moved, but also promoted intimacy (highly recommended to transfer to your significant other)
If you are an office worker, you can also try: every 1 hour or half an hour, stand up and walk for 2 minutes, choose a small-capacity water cup, and you can also connect water a few times and go to the toilet a few times.
People who commute to work and take public transportation can get off the bus one stop in advance and take a walk; If it's close, ride a bike to work; The low floor climbs the stairs, and the high floor can go down 2 floors ahead.
In short, breaking the state of sitting quietly is the key.
The co-expert of this article: Wang Huiyang, bachelor of Nanjing Institute of Physical Education and primary rehabilitation therapist
Acknowledgements: This article has been reviewed by Yang Yizhuo, Ph.D. in Sports Rehabilitation from Beijing Sport University, and Kelly Weaver, Master of Epidemiology from the University of Munich, Germany
This article was first published in Dr. Lilac, curated: Murphy|Executive Producer: Feidi|Title Image Source: Tuworm Creative
References (swipe up and down to view)
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[2] Ekelund U, Tarp J, Steene-Johannessen J, Hansen BH, Jefferis B, Fagerland MW, et al. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. Bmj. 2019;366:l4570.
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[6] Richard P,Eoin M, et al. Sedentary behaviour and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, and incident type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis.2018,33(9):811-829.