Summary of article
Being physically active can substantially improve your health. For people who are regularly active, they are at a reduced risk of experiencing:
Coronary heart disease – 16-23% (2)
Stroke – 16-19% (2)
Some cancers – 10-20% (3)
Type 2 Diabetes – 25-40% (4)
Fall Related Injuries – 32-40% (5)
Depression – 19-27% (6)
Cognitive decline – 38% (8)
Chronic low back pain – 11-16% (10)
Article
You will likely know that being physically activity is good for you, and that being active improves both length and quality of life (1). But exactly how good is it for you? Going from being inactive, to meeting the physical activity guidelines, how much of an improvement are you likely to see in relation to your cardiovascular health, to your mental health, or to your physical function? The short and frustrating answer is always: it depends. It depends on your genetics, on your underlying level of risk, on how active you become, what that activity consists of, and many other factors.
If you’re looking for some ballpark numbers, however, large scale systematic reviews of physical activity studies can provide a guide. These systematic reviews, by their very nature, condense vast amounts of information and human variability down to a few numbers. If you’re wanting a rough answer to the question: “what am I actually getting out of this?”, they’re a good place to start.
Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) occurs when the blood vessels that supply the heart become narrowed or blocked. Where the heart muscle cannot get enough oxygen and nutrients, and cannot remove waste products, it becomes damaged. This damage can result in a heart attack. Heart attacks can be fatal, but even surviving a heart attack has significant health consequences.
Going from being inactive, to meeting the minimum activity guidelines as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) reduces the risk of CHD by 16% (2). Exceeding the minimum guidelines further decreases the risk, although at a slower rate. Someone who is exceeding the minimum guidelines tenfold decreases the risk of CHD by 23% (2).
Stroke can occur when blood vessels that supply the brain become suddenly blocked. This can be caused by a clot that develops in the brain, or develops elsewhere in the body but becomes lodged in the brain. They also occur when blood vessels burst. Like heart attacks, strokes can be fatal. For stoke survivors, the effects can be profound. People can lose the ability to move certain muscles or limbs, they can experience difficulty with speech and swallowing, and they may experience changes to memory and cognition. Meeting the WHO minimum activity guidelines reduces risk of stroke by 16% (2). Exceeding the guidelines tenfold decreases the risk by 19% (2).
Cancer
Cancer is disease that affects how cells grow and multiply, resulting in abnormal growth that can destroy surrounding healthy tissues. Some cancers grow in place, and a relatively less damaging. These are referred to as benign. Other cancers can travel around the body, and invade other tissues. These are malignant cancers.
While all cancers are characterised by abnormal growth, the processes which cause the cancers are different. Therefore, different cancers respond differently to prevention and treatment. However, current evidence demonstrates that being physically active reduces the risk of developing some cancers (lung, bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal adenocarcinoma, renal and gastric) by between 10-20% (3). Additionally, for those diagnosed with breast, colon and prostate cancers, evidence suggests a 40-50% reduced risk of death (3).
For other cancers, there is insufficient quantity and quality of evidence to make strong claims. However, it is likely that as more evidence emerges, similar effects may be found.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is a disease affecting blood sugar control. For people with T2D, difficulty getting blood sugars into tissues that need it can result of feelings of hunger and fatigue. Additionally, the higher blood sugar levels cause symptoms including increased thirst, increased urination, and slower healing of wounds. The more serious complications of T2D can include CHD and stroke, damage to the eyes, nerve damage, kidney damage, and tissue damage to the feet.
Being physically active is associated with, on average, a 25-40% reduced risk of developing T2D (4). As with other conditions, as dose-response to exercise is observed. Meaning that while the most substantial benefits occur when increasing from no activity to meeting the WHO guideline minimums, additional benefits continue to be accrued as the level of activity increases (4).
Physical Function and Falls
Physical function is the capacity to perform daily tasks. It is assessed using a variety of measures that include ability to get up and down from a chair, walking speed, ability to maintain balance in different standing positions, and ability to perform household tasks such as carrying groceries and picking up items from the floor. For most people, physical function is of little concern outside of acute medical illnesses or injuries. However, as people age physical function can decrease to the extent that activities of daily living become more difficult, if not impossible.
People who are physically active are less likely to experience a decline in physical function as they age (5). People who complete significantly greater levels of physical activity, have significantly greater levels of protection against physical decline (5). On average, older people who are regularly physically active are 72% more proficient at completing activities of daily living (5).
Falls occur in many older adults, and are a major contributor to bone fractures, head trauma, open wounds and hospitalisation. The consequences of fall can range from minor, to fatal. Being physically active, however, reduces the risk of fall related injuries by 32-40% (5).
Depression
Depression is a relatively common mental health condition, characterised by feelings of sadness, fatigue, overwhelm, anger, and hopelessness that persist for extended periods of time. It can make it harder for people to enjoy activities they used to find pleasurable, for them to become less engaged with school or work, and for them to socialise less.
As with other conditions, current evidence indicates that being physically active is protective against developing depression (6). For people who complete at least 150 minutes of activity a week, consistent with the WHO physical activity guidelines, the risk of developing depression decreases by 19-27% (6). For people experiencing depression, being active can reduce depressive symptoms, on average, by 43% (7).
Cognition (Brain Function)
Cognitive function refers to refers to a person’s ability to think, learn, reason, problem solve, remember, focus and make decisions. People with better cognitive function have more capacity to learn and perform well in school, in the workplace, and in their daily life.
Most research into the effects of physical activity and cognitive function has been conducted on children aged 6-13 and adults over the age of 50.8 For children aged 6-13, regular physical activity improves academic and cognitive outcomes by 13-30% (8). For adults over 50, being physically active improves cognitive function by 29% on average (8).
For older adults, cognitive decline can affect ability to complete day to day tasks, and remain independent. On average, those who are more physically active are at a 38% reduced risk of cognitive decline (8).
Chronic Low Back Pain
At any one moment in time, 7.3% of people are experiencing low back pain that limits their ability to perform normal activity (9). Most episodes of low back pain resolve quickly with little consequence, however, for some people this is not the case. Chronic low back pain is the term used to describe any episode of back pain lasting over three months. Aside from the immediate discomfort of experiencing back pain, chronic pain sufferers often experience social and financial stress (9). Being physically active, reduces the risk of a person developing chronic low back pain by 11-16% (10).
In Summary
The overview of benefits of being active presented above is by no means conclusive. However, it does paint a broad picture of the benefits that can reasonably be expected from being physically active. The magnitude and consistency of these benefits dramatically overshadows the small (but real) risks of associated with physical activity.
While an understanding of the benefits of physically activity can be motivating, for many people knowledge alone does not result in them meeting the physical activity guidelines. Building new habits can be hard. For that reason, the open-access Active Resilience programs include tools to facilitate behaviour change.
References
1. Posadzki, P., Pieper, D., Bajpai, R., Makaruk, H., Könsgen, N., Neuhaus, A. L., & Semwal, M. (2020). Exercise/physical activity and health outcomes: an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews. BMC public health, 20, 1-12.
2. Kyu, H. H., Bachman, V. F., Alexander, L. T., Mumford, J. E., Afshin, A., Estep, K., ... & Forouzanfar, M. H. (2016). Physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. BMJ, 354.
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4. Aune, D., Norat, T., Leitzmann, M., Tonstad, S., & Vatten, L. J. (2015). Physical activity and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis. European journal of epidemiology, 30, 529-542.
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6. Mammen, G., & Faulkner, G. (2013). Physical activity and the prevention of depression: a systematic review of prospective studies. American journal of preventive medicine, 45(5), 649-657.
7. Singh, B., Olds, T., Curtis, R., Dumuid, D., Virgara, R., Watson, A., ... & Maher, C. (2023). Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
8. Erickson, K. I., Hillman, C., Stillman, C. M., Ballard, R. M., Bloodgood, B., Conroy, D. E., ... & Powell, K. E. (2019). Physical activity, cognition, and brain outcomes: a review of the 2018 physical activity guidelines. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(6), 1242.
9. Hartvigsen, J., Hancock, M. J., Kongsted, A., Louw, Q., Ferreira, M. L., Genevay, S., ... & Woolf, A. (2018). What low back pain is and why we need to pay attention. The Lancet, 391(10137), 2356-2367.
10. Shiri, R., & Falah-Hassani, K. (2017). Does leisure time physical activity protect against low back pain? Systematic review and meta-analysis of 36 prospective cohort studies. British journal of sports medicine, 51(19), 1410-1418.
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