Sydney University researchers have found small ‘1.5-to-4 minute bursts’ of high-intensity exercise throughout the day – such as taking the stairs instead of an elevator or carrying groceries a short distance – can help lower a person’s risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), especially in women.
The study, reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, analysed UK Biobank data from more than 103,000 middle-aged men and women with an average age of 61. All participants wore an activity tracker 24-hours a day for a full week between 2013 and 2015; 22,000 said they did not follow any structured exercise program or only took one recreational walk a week; the remaining participants said they regularly exercised.
Researchers used the activity trackers to determine which participants had bouts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) during the day and for how long.
Lead author Prof Emmanuel Stamatakis told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘Incidental physical activity, things we do as part of our daily routines, offers many untapped opportunities, but we do not understand the best way to promote them and how to support people – VILPA offers such an option.
‘These short bursts of vigorous incidental activity, typically lasting between 10 seconds and 1 minute, are part of people’s daily living. This kind of activity may be more feasible than structured exercise for many people as it does not require preparation, time commitment or travelling to a facility to be active.”
They found female participants with no formal exercise regimen who recorded an average 3.4 minutes of VILPA a day were 51 percent less likely to have a heart attack, had a 67 percent decreased risk for heart failure and were 45 percent less likely to develop any type of MACE compared to female participants who did not clock any VILPA during their day.
Women with only VILPA amounts of 1.2-1.6 minutes a day had a 40 percent decreased risk of heart failure, 33 percent lowered risk of heart attack and 30 percent lower risk of all MACE.
However, Prof Stamatakis noted: ‘The beneficial associations were in women who committed VILPA almost daily, several times each day – 9 to 10 bursts on average. Turning such behaviour into habit is not necessarily easy.”
The study also reported males who averaged 5.6 minutes of VILPA each day with no formal exercise had a 16 percent reduced risk of having any type of MACE compared to those who did not clock any VILPA.
Prof Stamatakis commented: ‘Because men’s relative VILPA intensity was only 70 percent versus 83 percent for women – around 20 percent higher – women exerted themselves more during VILPA bouts, and as a result we could see a markedly lower cardiovascular disease risk in women, in the long term.’
