Not exercising doubles the deaths caused by obesity . It is the indisputable conclusion of the latest study carried out by the Epidemiology Unit of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and collected by the scientific journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
For their research, the experts involved 334,161 European men and women in order to measure the relationship between physical inactivity and premature death and its possible link to obesity and overweight . To do this, they analyzed the data of all the participants, measuring, over an average of 12 years, their height, weight and waist circumference, as well as their levels of physical activity.
After comparing the results and classifying 22.7% of the participants as inactive (no physical activity), the scientists discovered that lack of exercise (sedentary life) had caused twice as many deaths as obesity and that the ratio of the index Body mass (BMI) with premature death was completely independent.
The positive that we can extract from the study is that moderately active exercise is enough to turn the tables: walking for about 20 minutes a day may be enough to reduce the risk of early death by up to 30% . The impact of this change in routine was more noticeable among people of normal weight, but it also occurred in those volunteers with a higher BMI.
“There is a simple message: a small amount of physical activity each day is enough for physically inactive people to reap significant health benefits. Although it was found that just 20 minutes of walking would make a difference, we really should be trying to do more because physical activity has many health benefits and should be an important part of our daily lives, ”clarifies Ulf Ekelund, leader of the study.
