--- title: How Much Exercise You Need to Prevent Disease description: There’s a strong connection between physical activity and the risk of five common diseases, according to a study published in The BMJ. canonical: https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-16T14:00:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:59:45.138Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's How Much Exercise You Need to Protect Against Disease og:description: Make sure to move for at least an hour a day og:url: https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57d1a3d6c9ce8a95/6988a26bab6d77295e6aae6c/physical-activity-prevent-disease.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7185 og:image:height: 4042 og:image:alt: Road biker follows mountain road, sunrise og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Much Exercise You Need to Protect Against Disease twitter:description: Make sure to move for at least an hour a day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57d1a3d6c9ce8a95/6988a26bab6d77295e6aae6c/physical-activity-prevent-disease.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Much Exercise You Need to Protect Against Disease > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=267b42d1-0eb5-4be1-92c5-f0426ce683bc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Aug 16, 2016 2:00 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Amanda MacMillan / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Amanda MacMillan / Health.com Contributor Aug 16, 2016 2:00 PM UTC There’s a strong connection between physical activity and the [risk of five common diseases](http://www.bmj.com/content/354/bmj.i3857), according to a recent study published in _The BMJ_. The catch? To really reap the benefits, we need to move much more than global health experts currently recommend. It’s no surprise that an active lifestyle may protect against a variety of health problems. But exactly how much and what type of activity is best is still up for debate, say the authors of the new study. So they looked at the results from 174 previous studies that examined the association between total physical activity and at least one of five chronic diseases: breast and bowel [cancer](http://www.health.com/mind-body/4-ways-to-slash-cancer-risk), [diabetes](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20442821,00.html), [heart disease](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20902284,00.html), and stroke. In these cases, physical activity meant all forms of movement—including exercise, housework and gardening, and active transportation like walking and cycling. As suspected, they found that people who got the most total weekly physical activity were the least likely to develop all five of these conditions. **_Health.com:_** [_Sit All Day? An Hour of Exercise Can Cancel Out the Health Risks_](http://www.health.com/fitness/sitting-exercise-hour/?xid=time) But while the [World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends](http://www.who.int/chp/steps/resources/GPAQ%5FAnalysis%5FGuide.pdf) a minimum of 600 metabolic equivalent (MET) minutes a week across different “domains” of daily life, the study found that the most significant risk reductions occurred at levels much higher—around 3,000 to 4,000 MET minutes a week. That’s a big difference. But MET minutes aren’t equivalent to actual minutes, the authors say; it’s a calculation that takes into account the intensity of the activity you’re doing. Jogging has a MET value of 7, for example, while walking the dog has a value of 3\. A half hour of jogging, therefore, is equal to 210 MET minutes (7 x 30), while a half hour stroll with Fido (30 x 3) is only about 90. So getting 3,000 MET minutes a week is easier than it sounds, especially if you incorporate different types of activity into your routine. For example, a typical day might include climbing stairs for 10 minutes, vacuuming for 15 minutes, gardening for 20 minutes, [running](http://news.health.com/2015/12/15/heres-how-far-you-actually-need-to-run-to-reap-the-health-benefits/)for 20 minutes, and walking or cycling for 25 minutes. In other words, move for an hour or two each day and you’ll be well on your way. “Getting 3,000 to 4,000 MET minutes a week may seem like quite a bit, but it is achievable when you focus on total activity across all domains of life,” says study co-author Hmwe Kyu, PhD, acting assistant professor of global health at the University of Washington. “If you are just more active by doing housework, taking the stairs, gardening, taking active transportation—these are things that are doable for most people, even if you can’t do intense exercise or go to the gym.” **_Health.com:_** [_If We All Did These 4 Things, It Would Cut the Cancer Death Rate in Half_](http://www.health.com/mind-body/4-ways-to-slash-cancer-risk/?xid=time) The study looked at observational results, which means it cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between physical activity and better health. And because it only considered total MET minutes, it wasn’t able to tell whether there were specific advantages to [shorter, more intense workouts](http://news.health.com/2015/09/25/a-4-minute-tabata-workout-for-people-who-have-no-time/) or longer, more moderate activity. But the findings still have several important implications, according to the authors. First, the WHO’s recommendation for physical activity needs to be several times higher than it is currently, in order to see larger reductions in these five common diseases. And second, they say, future research should pay more attention to total weekly activity—and not just leisure-time exercise, as many studies have done—to provide a better picture of how people can meet healthy activity goals in real-life settings. _This_ [_article_](http://www.health.com/fitness/how-much-exercise-protects-against-disease/?xid=time) _originally appeared on_ [_Health.com_](http://www.health.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/"},"headline":"Here's How Much Exercise You Need to Protect Against Disease","datePublished":"2016-08-16T14:00:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:59:45.138Z","description":"Make sure to move for at least an hour a day","url":"https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/","keywords":["Exercise & Fitness"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57d1a3d6c9ce8a95/6988a26bab6d77295e6aae6c/physical-activity-prevent-disease.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda MacMillan / Health.com"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57d1a3d6c9ce8a95/6988a26bab6d77295e6aae6c/physical-activity-prevent-disease.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Road biker follows mountain road, sunrise","caption":"Road biker follows mountain road, sunrise","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercisefitness/","name":"Exercise & Fitness"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4452790/exercise-protect-disease/","name":"Here's How Much Exercise You Need to Protect Against Disease"}}]}] ```