Browse the evidence

Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness neutralize the adverse effects of adiposity and traditional risk factors, acting as independent therapeutic targets for ASCVD prevention.

Aim for 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, plus two strength sessions. You don't need to lose weight first to see heart benefits; exercise itself protects your heart even if you are overweight.

Integrating cycling into daily transport routines provides substantial health benefits by increasing physical activity levels, which outweigh the risks of crashes and air pollution.

To gain health benefits, integrate cycling into your daily routine, such as commuting or running errands. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling per week. While safety is a concern, the health benefits of increased physical activity significantly outweigh the risks of crashes and air pollution. Prioritize safe infrastructure and gradual increases in cycling frequency to overcome safety concerns.

Increasing daily step count by 1000 steps is associated with a 6-36% reduction in all-cause mortality and a 5-21% reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in adults, with health benefits present below 10,000 steps per day.

Focus on adding 1,000 steps to your current daily average rather than aiming for a specific high number like 10,000. This incremental increase is consistently linked to significant reductions in mortality and cardiovascular risk for adults, regardless of your starting point.

Lifestyle interventions combining dietary modification and physical exercise are effective first-line preventive strategies for reducing the incidence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM).

Start early in pregnancy. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise (like cycling or walking) three times a week. Adjust your diet to include more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains (rice/wheat), while reducing processed meats and sweets. Monitor your weight gain and blood glucose as advised by your doctor.

Supervised aerobic or resistance exercise significantly reduces cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in breast cancer survivors compared to conventional care.

If you are a breast cancer survivor struggling with fatigue, supervised exercise is a safe and effective treatment. Aim for roughly 2-3 sessions per week, lasting about 45 minutes each, over a period of 20+ weeks. Both aerobic (walking, cycling) and resistance (weight) training work. The key is having a professional supervise you to ensure you stay safe, adhere to the plan, and maintain the right intensity (50-80% of max heart rate).

Using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for dietary and exercise self-monitoring significantly improves adherence to self-monitoring compared to traditional paper records (PR).

Switch from paper diaries to a digital tracking app or device. The study shows that using a PDA (or smartphone app) for daily food and exercise logging significantly improves your consistency (adherence) compared to writing it down by hand. This is because digital tools save you time on calculations and provide immediate feedback, reducing the mental burden of tracking.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle (non-smoking, regular physical activity, healthy diet, moderate alcohol) significantly increases life expectancy in individuals with multimorbidity, with benefits comparable to those without chronic conditions.

If you have multiple chronic conditions, adopting a healthy lifestyle (not smoking, eating 5+ portions of fruit/veg daily, exercising regularly, and drinking moderately) can still significantly extend your life expectancy, adding up to 6-7 years compared to an unhealthy lifestyle. It is never too late to benefit from these changes.

Lifestyle interventions (combining physical activity and sedentary behavior reduction with diet) significantly reduce total sedentary time in adults by approximately 24 minutes per day, with moderate quality evidence.

To reduce your sitting time, you need a specific strategy to break up sitting, not just exercise. Lifestyle programs that combine diet, exercise, and specific instructions to stand/move more are effective, reducing sitting by about 24 minutes a day. Don't assume your workout covers your sitting time; actively break up long periods of sitting.

Replacing sedentary behavior with physical activity (isotemporal substitution) improves HRQoL, with light physical activity being sufficient for most dimensions of quality of life.

You can improve your quality of life by swapping sitting time for movement, without needing extra time. Replacing just one hour of sitting with one hour of light activity (like walking or gardening) daily leads to significant improvements in physical function, pain, and mental health. You do not need to do vigorous exercise to get these benefits.

Regular physical exercise (defined as exercising at least once per week) is associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality and improved health-related quality of life in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

For hemodialysis patients, aiming to exercise at least once a week is associated with a significantly lower risk of death and better quality of life. This does not require intense gym workouts; self-reported leisure-time physical activity counts. Patients should consult their care team to find safe, manageable forms of activity, as even modest exercise can yield substantial survival benefits.

Aerobic and strength training interventions significantly reduce pain, fatigue, and depression while improving physical function and quality of life in individuals with fibromyalgia.

Start with low-intensity aerobic or strength exercises 2-3 times a week. Focus on 'starting low and going slow' to avoid symptom flares. Gradually increase intensity by 10% every two weeks if no pain exacerbation occurs. Combine with education and stress management for best results.

Lifestyle interventions achieving greater initial weight loss (>10%) result in significantly greater net weight loss after one year of unsupervised follow-up compared to those achieving 5-10% loss, despite similar percentage maintenance rates.

Aim for a weight loss of 10% or more during your lifestyle intervention. Even if you regain some weight after the program ends, you will likely end up lighter after one year than if you had only aimed for a modest 5% loss. The 'buffer' created by larger initial loss protects your long-term results.

The Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) provides reliable and valid estimates of energy intake in free-living conditions, with significantly lower error rates (approx. 5%) compared to traditional self-report methods (37%+).

If you need to track food intake accurately without the guesswork of portion sizes, using a camera to photograph your meal and plate waste is a viable, objective method. It reduces the cognitive burden of estimation and provides data comparable to weighing food, with only a small, consistent underestimation bias.

Aerobic exercise improves functional ability (activities of daily living) in individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's disease compared to non-aerobic stretching.

For a patient with early Alzheimer's, a supervised aerobic exercise program of 150 minutes per week (spread over 3-5 sessions) can help maintain their ability to perform daily activities. The program should start slowly (e.g., 60 minutes/week) and gradually increase intensity and duration to a target of 150 minutes/week, monitoring heart rate to ensure safety.

Long-term weight loss maintenance is achieved through a multidisciplinary lifestyle modification approach featuring extended care, high physical activity, self-monitoring, and cognitive-behavioral strategies, rather than short-term dieting alone.

To keep weight off long-term, you must treat maintenance as a separate, active phase, not just the end of a diet. Adopt a routine that includes daily self-weighing, eating breakfast, and about an hour of daily physical activity. Engage in a structured program with regular check-ins (monthly or more) with a counselor or healthcare provider to maintain accountability and address psychological barriers like self-efficacy.

Low-volume high-intensity interval training (HIT) using a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio (1 min at ~100% peak power, 1 min at ~20% peak power) yields higher post-exercise enjoyment and preference than continuous vigorous-intensity (CVI) exercise, while maintaining self-efficacy comparable to continuous moderate-intensity (CMI) exercise.

If you struggle to stick with exercise because long sessions feel boring or painful, try a 20-minute High-Intensity Interval Training (HIT) session on a bike. Do 1 minute of hard effort (where you can barely speak) followed by 1 minute of easy pedaling. Repeat this cycle 10 times. This protocol often feels more enjoyable and is preferred by inactive adults over longer, moderate-paced workouts, making it easier to build a consistent habit.

A multi-component school-based intervention targeting diet and physical activity produces sustained improvements in dietary fat intake and vigorous physical activity for at least three years after the intervention ends.

Implementing a comprehensive, multi-component health program in schools (covering diet, activity, and family engagement) can lead to sustained improvements in children's eating habits and physical activity levels for years after the program ends. However, these behavioral improvements may not immediately translate into significant changes in physiological markers like BMI or blood pressure in healthy children. The key is establishing long-term behavioral habits through environmental and educational support.

Physical activity, particularly aerobic exercise performed before a meal, significantly reduces postprandial lipemia and increases lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, improving lipid clearance.

Moving your body before you eat can help your body clear fat from your blood more effectively. An acute bout of aerobic exercise before a high-fat meal can reduce postprandial lipemia by 24-35%. You don't need to exercise right before every meal, but physical activity within 24 hours can improve lipid clearance.

Providing reassurance, clear advice, and enjoyable exercise programs can encourage greater participation in exercise for people with osteoarthritis.

To stick with exercise, choose programs that are enjoyable and relevant to you. Seek out providers who offer clear advice and reassurance about the safety and value of exercise, rather than just reading pamphlets.

Web-based computer-tailored nutrition education significantly increases personal awareness of dietary intake (fat, fruit, vegetables) and intention to change compared to general, non-tailored nutrition information.

To motivate dietary change, use a web-based tool that provides personalized feedback on your specific fat, fruit, and vegetable intake compared to recommendations. This tailored approach is more effective than general advice because it increases personal awareness and relevance, leading to stronger intentions to change. You do not need advanced computer skills to benefit from this method.

Increasing physical activity to at least 150 minutes per week improves liver enzymes and metabolic indices in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), independent of weight loss.

If you have fatty liver, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity (like brisk walking) per week. You don't necessarily need to lose weight to see improvements in your liver enzymes, though weight loss is still beneficial. Start with small increases if you are currently sedentary, as even 60 minutes of activity per week can help. Focus on consistency rather than intensity or gym membership.

Intensive and continuous physical activity participation during school age is a strong predictor of high physical activity levels in adulthood, whereas inactivity tends to track from youth to adulthood.

Encourage children and teenagers to engage in regular, intensive physical activity or sports clubs. The specific sport matters less than the consistency and intensity. Establishing this habit early creates a strong trajectory toward an active adult life, while early inactivity is likely to persist.

Physical exercise is the only therapeutic strategy currently shown to have a positive effect in managing and preventing sarcopenia and its adverse health outcomes.

If you are older and losing muscle, exercise is the only proven way to fight back. Focus on progressive resistance training. Hormones and supplements are not currently proven to work for this specific condition.

A 12-week home-based program of heavy-load eccentric calf muscle exercises significantly reduces pain and improves function in patients with mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy, with effects persisting for at least one year.

If you have mid-portion Achilles tendon pain, start a home-based eccentric calf exercise program. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions, twice daily, focusing on lowering your heel slowly below the level of your forefoot. Do this with both straight and bent knees. Expect some muscle soreness in the first week, which should decrease. Continue this for 12 weeks. This approach is more effective than using a night splint alone for reducing pain and returning to sports.