Increasing weekly exercise is the secret to fighting these five chronic diseases

A QUEENSLAND study has found that to stay healthy, Australians need to be doing five times the amount of exercise than previously thought..

Great, now I get to do five more laps than usual. Picture: Valentin Russanov/Getty Images

YOU may have thought you were just scraping through on that whole balanced life thing, but it turns out that walk around the block on your lunch break is no long enough to make up for the pizza you devoured while watching The Bachelor last night.

A Queensland study has found that to stay healthy, Australians need to be doing five times the amount of exercise that we had reluctantly agreed upon, previously outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

University of Queensland researcher Dr Lennert Veerman says that weekly exercise needs to be significantly increased in order to reduce the risk of five common diseases. Fifteen to 20 hours of brisk walking a week or six to eight hours of running a week could reduce diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and breast and bowel cancer.

And no, an intense 10 minutes on the rowing machine (something others would consider a warm-up) is no longer going to cut it. “Although the first minutes of activity do the most for health, our research results suggest activity needs to be several times higher than current WHO recommendations to achieve larger reductions in risks of these diseases,” Dr Veerman said.

WHO had previously recommended a total activity level of 10 metabolic equivalent (MET) hours a week. However, the Queensland study found that to achieve improved health, people need to engage in 50 to 70 MET hours a week. Yep, but don’t worry, it sounds like more than it is.

To paint a clearer picture, Dr Veerman said most people could achieve 10 MET hours by running for 75 minutes, or two and a half hours of walking. He said the key was to incorporate physical activity into daily life as a habit, rather than a chore.

In an ageing population where the numbers of diabetes and cardiovascular deaths have only increased since 1990, incidental exercise such as ditching the Uber, vacuuming while you watch Netflix, or God forbid doing actual exercise, is all likely to minimise the risks of chronic disease.

The easiest way to accumulate those MET hours could be as simple as mixing up your work commute. “Our urban environments need to change, walking and cycling needs to be made safe and convenient,” Dr Veerman said. It may be time to don the old jeans and joggers on the way into the office, but if you do may we suggest a hat and glasses in case anyone sees you.