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Climb the stairs, lug the shopping, chase the kids. Incidental vigorous activity linked to lower cancer risks:

Many know exercise reduces the risk of cancers, including liver, lung, breast and kidney. But structured exercise is time-consuming, requires significant commitment and often requires financial outlay or travel to a gym. 

There is very little research on the potential of incidental physical activity for reducing cancer risk. Incidental activities can include errands on foot, work-related activity or housework as part of daily routines. As such, they do not require extra time, special equipment, or any practical arrangements.

A study out today explored the health potential of brief bursts of vigorous physical activities embedded into daily life. These could be short power walks to the bus or tram stop, stair climbing, heavy shopping, active housework, or energetic play with children.

What the study found out

Even though study participants were not doing any structured exercise, about 94% recorded short bursts of vigorous activity. Some 92% of all bouts were done in very short bursts lasting up to one minute.

A minimum of around 3.5 minutes each day was associated with a 17–18% reduction in total cancer risk compared with not doing any such activity.

Half the participants did at least 4.5 minutes daily, with a 20–21% reduction in total cancer risk.

For cancers such as breast, lung and bowel cancers, which we know are impacted by the amount of exercise people do, the results were stronger and the risk reduction sharper. For example, a minimum of 3.5 minutes per day of vigorous incidental activity reduced the risk of these cancers by 28–29%. At 4.5 minutes a day, these risks were reduced by 31–32%.

The results clearly show the benefits of doing day-to-day activities with a gusto that makes you huff and puff for both total cancer and those known to be linked to exercise.

In a nutshell: get moving in your daily routine.

The study found 3 to 4 minutes of vigorous incidental activity each day is linked with decreased cancer risk. This is a very small amount of activity compared to current recommendations of 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity a week.

Vigorous incidental physical activity is a promising avenue for cancer prevention among people unable or unmotivated to exercise in their leisure time.

The study also highlights the potential of technology. These results are just a glimpse of how wearables combined with machine learning – which the study used to identify brief bursts of vigorous activity – can reveal health benefits of unexplored aspects of our lives. The future potential impact of such technologies to prevent cancer and possibly a host of other conditions could be very large.