Move your body

Ditch the cleaner and mop your own floors it could reduce your risk of getting cancer.

- NICKY PELLEGRINO

Climbing stairs, mopping floors, gardening, playing energetically with kids any form of movement that is a normal part of daily living is known as incidental activity. And the latest science is showing that it has very real benefits for our health, lowering the risk of getting some cancers and experiencing major cardiac events.

This relatively new area of study has been made possible by the advent of wearable technology, says Emmanuel Stamatakis from the University of Sydney, who is leading the research.

"Until now, we've relied on questionnaires," he says. "We couldn't measure incidental activity simply because people didn't remember it. Now, these devices look at physical activity at a very high resolution and they are working 24 hours a day. They have opened new horizons for us in understanding its health effects." 

Using data from the UK Biobank, an international team of researchers examined the incidental physical activity of more than 25,000 non-exercisers in middle age and beyond, then tracked them for almost eight years to see how their movement patterns were related to their health status. Many of these people were highly sedentary.

"They don't do any physical activity, including incidental," says Stamatakis. "They live their lives from the car, to a desk, to the sofa, so they're moving very little in their day-to-day routines."

His findings so far suggest that even relatively small amounts of regular movement can have big results. For instance, 4-5 short bursts of vigorous activity - of about one minute each every day is thought to reduce the risk of some cancers by up to 32%.