Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous or long to be beneficial.

According to a new study, increasing the intensity of daily physical activities, even if for a short period of time, can reduce the risk of cancer.

Research, called The UK Biobank Accelerometry Study, analyzed 22,000 adults about age 62, specifically those who engaged in intermittent vigorous physical activity without exercise, or VILPA. Those who engaged in this behavior for only a few minutes a day were more likely to have a lower risk of cancer than those who did not engage in any activity.

VILPA essentially consists of small intervals of physical activity lasting about one to two minutes. People in the study who took a minimum of three to four minutes of VILPA each day were associated with a 17 percent to 18 percent reduction in cancer risk compared to people who didn’t exercise. The sample of people with four and a half minutes a day was associated with a greater reduction in cancer incidents (a 31% to 32% reduction).

The best part: These short lapses can be activities you’re already doing every day or week, Matthew Ahmadi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney’s School of Medicine and Health and School of Health Sciences, told HuffPost.

Typical VILPA activities include bursts of very fast walking, walking uphill, walking carrying a backpack or shopping bags, climbing stairs, and vigorous housework or gardening, she said Ahmadi, one of the authors of the study. An easy way to know if you’re doing VILPA is to pay attention to common signs of straining. For example, when they perform activity, with enough energy that they become breathless, followed by a perceived increase in heart rate within about 20-30 seconds.

There are some limitations with the studio. For example, 96% of the participants were white, making it difficult to apply these findings to the general population. Additionally, the activities were self-reported, which could leave room for human error.

The study researchers concluded that daily VILPA may be a promising intervention for cancer prevention in populations unable or motivated to exercise in their free time.

While exercising for longer periods of time can be beneficial for many people, shorter exercise periods may be more beneficial for some groups. Sometimes intense or long exercise timesuch as marathon running or weightlifting, can lead to immune dysfunction, while short bouts of aerobic exercise improve immune function particularly in the elderly and people with obesity or immune compromise.

VILPA has important practical advantages over structured exercise, such as swimming, running or going to the gym, as it doesn’t require any special arrangements or time commitments, trips to a facility or any expenses, Ahmadi said.

Short bouts of exercise can also help people who have a more sedentary lifestyle, whether due to work or otherwise. Middle-aged adults who don’t exercise are at a higher risk of developing certain cancers, according to the study, and time spent sitting may be a factor.

Spend most of the day engaging in sedentary behaviors o All activities while awake while sitting, reclining, or lying down, such as watching TV, working on a laptop, or sitting in a car, are associated with an increased risk of colon, endometrial, and lung cancer. Given that 55% of people spend most of their day in sedentary behavior due to work, reducing that time by exercising as little as five minutes can help reduce the risk of chronic disease.

As mentioned, VILPA includes activities like climbing stairs or carrying groceries indoors. Activities like running errands, walking the dog, gardening, mowing the lawn, and other daily movements in our routine all fall into this category as well.

If you work from home, VILPA can feel like walking on a desk treadmill or performing exercises without equipment, such as doing some squats or other movements with only your body weight. The goal is to add more movement throughout the day.

And a lower risk of cancer isn’t the only potential benefit: Overall, exercise has numerous positive effects on the mind and body, and it’s one of the most important things you can do to reduce your health risks. Immediate benefits include improved thinking and cognition and reduced feelings of depression and anxiety.

Over time, physical activity routines also impact weight management and reduce other health risks, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndromes and infectious diseases.

In general, any physical activity is better than none. Without being physically active, the function and efficiency of our cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory systems will deteriorate, Ahmadi said.

These systems are vital to our overall health and well-being, Ahmadi said. The more we use these systems, the stronger and more efficient they will become, resulting in reduced risks of disease and comorbidities and death.