2018 U.S. exercise guidelines-or how exercise is good for just about everything

The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee issued its report to the Secretary of HHS in February 2018.See here for link to full report.

Their prescription for exercise was unchanged from their 2008 recommendations.  They recommend 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate to vigorous exercise per week. This can also be expressed as 500 to 1000 Met-minutes per week. "Moderate" is defined as exercise requiring between 3 and 5.9 METS and "vigorous" as greater than 6 METS.

To put those numbers into perspective , consider than it would require about 7 METS to run a fifteen minute miles and about 5 METs to walk a fifteen minute mile and about 9 METS to run a 12 minute mile. It requires about 7 METS to complete Stage 2 on the Bruce treadmill protocol .A MET is 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram weight per minute. 

Now, about how exercise (physical activity or PA) is good for just about everything. 

The 2008 exercise guidelines reported that PA could lead to a reduction in risk of breast cancer and colon cancer . The 2018 reports adds the following cancers to those whose risk is reduced by PA :
bladder, lung, esophagus, endometrium and stomach.But reduction in heart disease risk is the major selling. point for an exercise program as well as decrease in diabetes and hypertension risk. 


The publication also offers evidence of a risk reduction for dementia and depression.

If the benefits of exercise could be achieved by a daily  pill, everyone would be taking it.