There are plenty of exercise benefits that show up quickly. Muscles and joints feel less stiff through the day and it becomes easier to walk further without feeling breathless. But a consistent fitness routine also delivers deeper, less obvious gains.
A 2023 study found that adding just 20 minutes of daily physical activity may help prevent hospital stays for nine serious health conditions. Since then, more research has linked regular movement to lower cancer risk and a longer life, giving these findings fresh relevance. Here is what the study showed, plus expert tips on how to move more each day.
The research, published in JAMA Network Open, used data from 81,717 participants aged 42 to 78 in the UK Biobank study. Each person wore an accelerometer (a motion-sensing fitness tracker) for one week between June 2013 and December 2015, and was then followed for seven years.
Time spent in sedentary activity (such as driving or watching television), light activity (like cooking or self-care), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (for example walking the dog or jogging) and sleep was estimated using wearable cameras and time-use diaries in a validation group of 152 people living their usual day-to-day lives.
Anyone with a history of a particular condition was excluded from the analysis for that condition. For instance, if a participant already had gallbladder disease, their data was not used in the gallbladder disease analysis.
Researchers then used a modelling technique to see what would happen if 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity replaced 20 minutes of sedentary time each day. That small shift was linked with a meaningful drop in the risk of future hospitalisation.
Higher activity levels were associated with lower risks of hospital admission for:
- Gallbladder disease
- Urinary tract infections
- Diabetes (type 1 and type 2)
- Venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the veins)
- Pneumonia
- Ischaemic stroke
- Iron deficiency anaemia
- Diverticular disease
- Colon polyps
Adding just 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous movement per day was linked to reductions in hospitalisation risk ranging from 3.8% for colon polyps to 23% for diabetes. Overall, the findings suggest that a relatively small increase in daily activity can help reduce the risk of being admitted to hospital for a wide range of medical problems.
How can exercise lower your risk of hospitalisation?
Exercise and regular movement improve the body’s ability to handle physical stress and can reduce frailty, says pulmonologist and critical care specialist Dr Jimmy Johannes. “It may also reduce the risk of comorbidities, such as ischaemic heart disease, diabetes and deconditioning, which can complicate an illness,” he explains.
Lower rates of these companion conditions may mean that issues such as urinary tract infections or pneumonia are less severe and can be treated in the community rather than in hospital.
Because movement is strongly associated with a lower risk of ischaemic heart disease, it is not surprising that it is also linked with fewer hospital admissions for stroke, which often has a cardiovascular component, Dr Johannes says. Regular activity can also support diabetes management by improving muscle sensitivity to insulin, which in turn can reduce complications that lead to hospital stays.
The study shows a strong association between higher activity levels and fewer hospitalisations, but that does not automatically mean exercise is the sole cause of the reduced risk.
Some people who are more likely to be admitted to hospital may already have underlying health problems that make it harder to be active in the first place, Dr Johannes points out. In these cases, low activity may be more of a consequence of illness than the original cause.
Even so, the overall evidence supports the idea that moving more within individual limits is a powerful way to support long-term health.
Increasing your physical activity: Where to start
“This study includes walking as moderate to vigorous exercise, so I think this is a great starting point,” says Dr Johannes. “I generally recommend starting out with 10 to 15 minutes of walking per day, two to three days per week and gradually increasing the time, intensity and days per week.”
For anyone who struggles to fit movement into a busy day, tracking steps with an activity tracker on a smartphone or watch can help. Seeing the numbers climb can be a nudge to make small swaps, like taking the stairs instead of the lift, or getting off the bus a stop earlier.
“I recommend getting at least 5,000 steps per day and ideally 7,500 steps or more per day. But in general, something is better than nothing,” Dr Johannes says.
If that step goal feels easy, there is no harm in aiming higher. At least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week is associated with a 30 to 40% reduction in mortality, notes sports cardiologist Dr Meagan Wasfy. “Exercise can help with risk factors such as blood pressure, blood cholesterol levels, weight management and type 2 diabetes risk.”
The bottom line
Regular movement does far more than build fitness. Exercise can improve strength, balance, energy, mood, cognition and self-image, says Dr Johannes.
On the new findings, he adds, “This is more supporting evidence that increased physical activity is associated with better health outcomes. This study provides additional insights about the association between physical activity and lower risk of hospitalisation for various conditions that are not typically linked with physical fitness, such as urinary tract infections, gallbladder disease and pneumonia.”
Overall, higher levels of physical activity are linked with better long-term health and fewer hospital stays across a wide range of conditions, says Dr Wasfy. Even trading ten sedentary minutes a day for a short walk or some light movement can start to shift the dial in a meaningful way.
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