Physical activity helps protect older adults against disease. A new study reveals that the health benefits also apply to those who exercise less than the recommended amount.

“The results show that all exercise is important for the health of older adults,” says Andreas Nilsson, a sports science researcher at Örebro University, who conducted the study with fellow Örebro researcher Fawzi Kadi.

Researchers observed 871 individuals aged 65 to 79 from Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

One group included individuals classified as physically active, exercising at least the recommended 2.5 hours per week with pulse-raising activities. The other group consisted of individuals who did not meet this exercise recommendation and were therefore classified as physically inactive.

“We used activity trackers to measure how much time the participants spent doing daily activities of varying intensity. This method provides much more reliable results than letting the participants report how much they exercise themselves, which is the method most commonly used in previous research,” says Andreas Nilsson.

For one week, participants kept a diary of what they ate and were given points based on how well they followed dietary guidelines for older adults.

Research teams in European countries took participants' waist measurements and blood samples to analyse five biomarkers that identify metabolic syndrome, a collective term for conditions such as elevated blood fat levels, high blood pressure, blood sugar and insulin resistance. All of these can be linked to an increased risk of disease.

The results showed that participants who were sedentary for less than 8.3 hours per day had a significantly lower risk of metabolic syndrome, regardless of their physical activity or dietary habits.

“We found that, even among those who didn't meet the recommended physical activity guidelines, being less sedentary was associated with better health. This suggests that even light exercise is good for your health,” concluded Andreas Nilsson.

The lowest risk of metabolic diseases was found in individuals who were both physically active, i.e. exercised for more than 2.5 hours per week, and at the same time sat the least.