The words ‘vigorous exercise’ usually bring to mind running marathons or playing pickleball. Inside Precision Medicine reports that researchers at a Sydney, Australia University tracked the daily activity of more than 22,398 ‘non-exercisers’ with an average age of 62.
Contrary to the vigorous exercise to which we have become accustomed, in this case, “activities” included carrying heavy groceries or playing children’s games. The data came from the UK Biobank Sub Study that tracked wearable devices.
The second phase of the study involved the participants’ clinical health records for seven years of monitoring for cancer.
The Alternative to Vigorous Exercise
The alternative exercises are the average household tasks such as bursts of power walking, carrying heavy groceries, and playing high-impact games with the children.
Regular moderate or high-level exercise has been linked to lowering the risk of cancer. The large-scale study emphasizes that only 4 ½ minutes of vigorous activity through simple tasks may lower incidents of cancer by 32%.
The work, reported in JAMA Oncology, stated that Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA) may significantly lower the risk of cancer in people who participated, as compared to people who had no strenuous activity. The term ‘VILPA’ now represents short, vigorous activity performed for about one minute daily.
It has been suggested (Sheinboim, D. et al. 2022 Cancer Research) that an exercise-induced metabolic shield is created by limiting the availability of nutrients to the tumor.
The study’s lead author, Emmanuel Stamatakis said that VILPA is almost the same as adding the concept of High-intensity interval training to your daily activities.
Dr. Stamatakis commented that it is well-known many middle-aged individuals do not exercise on a daily basis. The result is an increase in the risk of cancer. The introduction of wearables allows researchers to observe the effect of daily physical activity.
Theories about the benefit of physical activity thus far include a reduction in:
- Systemic inflammation
- Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)
- Hyperinsulinemia (high insulin)
- Sex hormones
- Pro-inflammatory leptin
Additional reports indicate that exercise promotes reprogramming of certain internal organs that increase nutrient demand and limit the availability of nutrients to the tumor. The end result is the creation of a metabolic shield induced by exercising.
The study involved observation of VILPA’s impact on the incidence of cancer for thirteen sites including but not limited to lung, liver, gastric cardia, a type of cancer in the stomach, myeloid leukemia, colorectal, bladder, head and neck, breast, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
The researchers discovered most reduction in the risk of cancer occurred in people who had even a minimal amount of vigorous activity compared with those who did not. Gains continued to rise along with those who had increased levels of VILPA daily.
The researchers found that 3.5 minutes of VILPA daily results in an almost 18% cancer reduction while 4.5 minutes of VILPA daily can bring about a 32% cancer reduction
Dr. Samatakis further commented that they need to investigate the subject further as VILPA appears to be a promising recommendation to reduce the risk of cancer in so many people who are unable to participate in structured exercise.
