Exercise as a daily habit is the key to a healthy life. Inactivity on the contrary is a great danger to public and individual health.

In the latest episode of Cubetti di Sapere Domenico Carlomagno, sports technician and fitness trainer at the Mapei Sport Research Centre, explains that «recent studies, such as the one published by Dr Stamatakis and colleagues in JAMA Oncology, have shown that even just a few minutes of vigorous physical activity such as climbing the stairs or taking a short run to catch the bus can reduce the risk of cancer».

Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA) is physical activity performed for short (<10 min) and sporadic times, independent of leisure time exercise, that can really change the quality of our lives.

«The results of the study with an average follow-up of almost 7 years suggest that with as little as 4′ per day of sporadic vigorous activity the total risk decrease is 28% in cancer for those who do not regularly participate in sport. The health benefits of brief sporadic vigorous activity would appear to be present not only in sedentary people. In addition, more than 4 min/day of VILPA is also associated with a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and all causes of mortality in both athletes and non-athletes» continues the expert, who urges everyone to move more as it is rarely too late to start and, whatever the physical activity, it is always better than nothing.