Research
Energy balance
Doubling the recommended physical activity dose (22.5 MET h/week) reduces type 2 diabetes risk by 36%, and high doses (60 MET h/week) reduce it by 53%, showing no plateau in benefits.
If you can, aim for more than the standard 150 minutes per week. Doing double that amount cuts your diabetes risk by 36%, and very high activity levels can cut it by over half. There is no 'maximum' benefit where extra exercise stops helping.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
Being active at a level corresponding to double that of the recommended minimal PA (22.5 MET h/week) was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes of 36% (95% CI 27%, 46%) with further reductions at higher doses (60 MET h/week, risk reduction of 53%), in the cubic spline model.
Why this rating
Based on the same high-quality meta-analysis.
Source
Physical activity and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
Andrea Smith et al. · Diabetologia · 2016
DOI 10.1007/s00125-016-4079-0
Meta-analysis · 28 studiesCited 430×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Engaging in 11.25 MET hours per week of leisure-time physical activity (equivalent to 150 minutes/week of moderate activity) reduces the risk of incident type 2 diabetes by 26% compared to being completely inactive.Strong
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