Aussie researchers say regular exercise combats heart disease, stroke

Australian researchers are calling for a major boost in physical activities, with a new study suggesting that regular weekly exercise reduces the risk of five common diseases.

University of Queensland researcher Dr Lennert Veerman said on Wednesday that a significant boost to physical activity equivalent to 15 to 20 hours of brisk walking or six to eight hours of running a week could reduce breast cancer, bowel cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

"Although the first minutes of activity do most for health, our research results suggest activity needs to be several times higher than current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations to achieve larger reductions in risks of these diseases," Veerman said.

"A lot of previous research had shown the benefits of being physically active, but we still do not definitively know the exact type and quantity of activity that most reduces the risk of common conditions because it is difficult to accurately measure physical activity."

Veerman had collaborated with researchers from the University of Washington and Dartmouth College and analysed 174 studies published between 1980 and 2016 before reaching such a conclusion.

"We found higher levels of weekly physical activity were linked to reduced risk in all five common chronic conditions."

Veerman said there needs to be greater investment in interventions to promote physical activity as the Australian population ages and there is an increasing number of cardiovascular and diabetes deaths since 1990. Endit