How much exercise is healthy? Moderate exercise is the best dose:

Practicing a sport is healthy, it keeps the body fit and slim and prevents many diseases. But is more exercise automatically healthier? Not necessarily, according to new studies.

You don't have to train at a top sporting level to do your body good: Two track and field athletes are out of breath on the tartan track. (Photo: Moodboard/Thinkstock)

Exercise is good for you. If you want to stay fit and slim, it's better to play sports, regardless of your age. Even for those who have been real sportsmen so far, it's worth upgrading. "For physically inactive people, each step towards more exercise is important and brings immediate benefits", indicates the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) on its website. People who exercise are more likely to age, are mentally fitter in old age, and require less care. “Exercise also has a positive effect on mental well-being and quality of life,” continues the FOPH. But how much sport is healthy, many people wonder. L'

How much physical activity do adults need?

Adults need at least as much exercise:

• At least two and a half hours of exercise per week in the form of daily activities or sports of at least moderate intensity.
• Or an hour and a quarter of sport or high intensity exercise.
• Combinations of exercises of different intensities are also possible. Ten minutes of high-intensity exercise has the same health benefits as 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.

By medium-intensity exercise, we mean exercise that makes you at least a little out of breath, without necessarily making you sweat. This includes, for example, brisk walking, cycling and gardening. High-intensity exercise produces light sweating and accelerated breathing, for example, by running, fast cycling, swimming, and cross-country skiing. Further recommendations on the subject of physical exercise are also provided by the Swiss Health and Physical Activity Netwcork hepa.h , which is affiliated to the Federal Office of Sport (Baspo).

Moderate activities:

More exercise is required than is generally recommended:

On the other hand, if you want to effectively improve your fitness or physical well-being, you need almost three times as many exercise units. To be precise, that means a good hour of moderate-intensity exercise or half an hour of vigorous-intensity exercise every day. This is at least the result of an American study and an Australian study, both published in the medical journal "Jama Internal Medicine". Those who exercise so often can reduce the risk of dying prematurely by almost 40%, summarizes the "Tagesanzeiger" the conclusion of the two studies.

A lot of sport can be harmful:

So the more you exercise, the healthier you are? No. Because, according to studies, even more exercise does not reduce the risk of death any further. On the contrary. Things reverse again in the case of totally exhausted athletes (more than twelve hours of training per week) - they have "only" 31% less risk of death "...

 A lot of sport can put the A Swedish study conducted at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm found that young men who exercise more than five hours a week have even a slightly increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation. Training causes the atria of the heart to grow and therefore become desynchronized in the form of cardiac arrhythmias.

Increased risk of accidents due to the practice of many sports:

Exercising a lot also increases the risk of injury.  The Observatory, which is financed and coordinated by the Federal Office of Sport (Baspo), collects data on the sporting activity of the Swiss population and thus creates the basis for decisions on political measures to be taken in the future.

 The study shows that the risk of injury among other athletes is 6%, and among non-athletes, 2% are injured each year in one of the sports activities they do occasionally. However, the conclusion that "sport is murder" does not apply, as non-athletes are always at greater risk of injury.

Sports with low risk of injury:

However, if one examines in detail the study of the Swiss Observatory of Sport and Physical Activity, it becomes clear that some sports are much more dangerous than others. If we compare the number of injuries to the number of participants, we see a relatively high risk of injury in ball sports such as football, handball, basketball, rugby, American football or fistball, as well as in ice hockey, gymnastics and various martial arts, with more than one person injured for every ten participants.

 The risk of injury is almost as high for (beach) volleyball, horse riding and floorball. Those who want to practice sports in the safest possible way go hiking, walking, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, aqua fitness or swimming, take a yoga, tai chi or qi gong class. According to the study, only one percent of participants in these sports are injured.

How much sport is healthy? Stay moderate!:

Moderate-intensity exercise Even for sports with a low risk of injury, it is important to train only moderately. Unilateral stress and incorrect effort can lead to injuries, such as the famous "tennis elbow". It therefore makes sense to bring variety into the daily sports routine by mixing different types of sport. 

Beginner athletes who embark on ambitious projects also overload the body, which must first get used to this new constraint. Muscles don't grow fast enough, so joints are overstressed. "Physical activities that leave you at least a little out of breath, but not necessarily sweaty, are of medium intensity," says Peter Ferloni, head of communications at the Swiss Cardiology Foundation. And to add: "If your heart is healthy and you are already somewhat trained, it is better to walk or jog at a pace that allows you to sweat while having a good time".