Moderate physical activity like walking or cleaning amounts to around three METs, researchers said, while more intense exercise like cycling can burn around six METs depending on speed.
People who engaged in moderate to vigorous activity were 14% to 40% less likely to develop the mental health and brain conditions being tracked, results show.
On the other hand, more time spent sitting increased people’s risk of these conditions by 5% to 54%, results show.
“Some previous studies have relied on people reporting on their own levels of activity,” Wu said.
“With our large number of participants and the use of devices that provide objective measurements of activity levels, these results will have implications for assessing risk factors and developing interventions to prevent the development of these diseases,” Wu added.