Just a few minutes of intense exercise can almost halve your cardiovascular risk.

• Previous studies have shown that getting enough physical activity can reduce your risk of major major cardiovascular events (MACE).
• Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that doing small amounts of high-intensity exercise, just 1.5 to 4 minutes throughout the day, can reduce your risk of MACE.
• This correlation was observed more significantly in female participants compared to male participants.

“Lack of physical activity is a serious public health problem. [up to] 6 million It causes an increasing number of annual deaths worldwide and is directly responsible for at least 15-20% of cardiovascular diseases. ” Dr. Emmanuel Stamatakissaid Charles Perkins Center MacKenzie Wearables Research Hub Director and Professor of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney in Australia. Today's medical news.

“There is an urgent need to identify viable ways to support people to be physically active.Structured exercise such as the gym, running and classes are great towards these goals, but Only 20% of the middle-aged and older population do it regularly,” he pointed out.

Stamatakis is the lead author and corresponding author of a new study that was recently published. British Journal of Sports Medicine scientifically Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA) — Things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or carrying groceries short distances may help lower the risk of MACE, especially for women.

For this study, researchers analyzed UK Biobank Data from over 103,000 middle-aged men and women with an average age of 61. All participants wore activity trackers 24 hours a day for one full week from 2013 to 2015.

Approximately 22,000 participants said they either did not follow a structured exercise program or took recreational walks only once a week, while the remaining participants did not exercise regularly. I answered yes.

Researchers used activity trackers to determine which participants took VILPA and for how long during the day.

“Ancillary physical activity, the things we do as part of our daily lives, offers many untapped opportunities, but what is the best way to promote it and how can people I don't know if I can support it, and VILPA provides that option,” Stamatakis explained.

“These are active episodic activities that occur over a short period of time and typically continue. [between] 10 seconds [and] For one minute, it is part of people's daily life. “This type of activity can be more doable for many people than structured exercise because it doesn't require preparation, time commitment, or travel to a facility to be active,” he elaborates. Ta.

“We hope to understand the impact of VILPA on major cardiovascular disease events by using advanced wearable measurement methods to enable us to scrutinize the effects of daily movement at very high resolution (10 second time frames).” “I thought so,” Stamatakis added. “No such study has ever been published.”

Study participants' cardiovascular health was tracked until November 2022.

In their analysis, researchers found that female participants who did not have a formal exercise plan and logged an average of 3.4 minutes of VILPA intake per day were 51% less likely to have a heart attack and had a 67% lower risk of heart failure. found that they were 45% less likely to develop heart failure. We measured all types of MACE compared to female participants who did not measure VILPA during the day.

Additionally, scientists found that for women, consuming 1.2 to 1.6 minutes of VILPA per day was associated with a 40% lower risk of heart failure, 33% lower risk of heart attack, and 30% lower risk of all MACEs. I discovered it.

“This discovery is important for at least two reasons,” Stamatakis said. “Firstly, it means much less physical activity. [than] This activity is incidental to current exercise-related recommendations. This means that for many people it may be easier to incorporate it into their daily life.

“The second noteworthy aspect of these findings is that we should not be fooled into thinking that small doses of VILPA are a quick-fix solution to complex problems like physical inactivity.” he continued.

“The beneficial association we observed was that VILPA was used almost every day, several times a day, an average of 9 to 10 times, and for short periods of time. It's not always easy to make this kind of behavior a habit, and our results show that even small amounts of high-intensity activity can help in the long run. It shows that regular physical activity, and even exercise, can help people develop a habit. will need support.”

– Dr. Emmanuel Stamatakis

Focusing on male participants, those who consumed an average of 5.6 minutes of VILPA each day without formal exercise had a 16% reduced risk of developing any type of MACE compared to those who did not consume any VILPA I did. However, scientists found no correlation between VILPA and other types of MACE.

“It is difficult to speculate why this was observed; our study was not specifically designed to understand the mechanism,” Stamatakis said.

“But it's quite possible, as men's relative VILPA strength is only 70%, while women's is about 20% higher, at 83%.” [meaning that] Women exert more force during VILPA matches, which may significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease in the long term. ”

“We are currently investigating the association between incidental physical activity of all intensities, light, moderate and vigorous, and the risk of heart disease,” he added. “We are particularly interested in understanding what the 'heart health value' is for each minute of vigorous activity versus each minute of moderate and light intensity activity. .”

After reviewing this research, Dr. Chen Han Chen“We're going to have to do a lot of research on this,” said Steve, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. MNT It is very promising that a seemingly small amount of intense exercise can improve cardiovascular disease-related mortality so dramatically, and is probably within the reach of most people.

“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of global disease mortality, so any intervention we can make to lower the profile of this disease will have a major impact on the health of this country,” Chen said. continued.

“So rather than waiting until the disease progresses and we have to intervene through drugs and treatments, we want to encourage people to make lifestyle changes that they can take on their own to improve their risk of heart disease as preventive medicine. “We particularly promote style interventions,” he said. us.

MNT I also talked to Rigved Tadwarkar, Marylandsaid of the study, medical director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at Providence St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, and a board-certified consulting cardiologist.

“My initial reaction to this study was one of optimism,” Tadwarkar commented. “The results of this study suggest that even very small amounts of VILPA can significantly reduce the risk of MACE in women who do not normally engage in structured exercise. This is particularly reassuring for patients who find it difficult to adhere to traditional exercise regimens due to limitations or other barriers.”

“This study highlights the potential to incorporate short, intense physical activity into daily life as an alternative to more traditional exercise programs, providing a practical and accessible strategy to improve cardiovascular health. “We will provide it,” he continued. “The gender-specific results also highlight the importance of tailoring exercise recommendations to individual needs, which may lead to more individualized and effective prevention and treatment plans. ”

For those looking to increase their daily VILPA, Chen said there are many different types of activities that can be incorporated throughout the day for short periods of time.

“The easiest thing to do is to use your environment to your advantage,” he elaborated. “For example, if you have stairs at home or work, simply walking up and down the stairs for 1 to 2 minutes several times a day can provide the benefits shown in this study. They also say that even everyday active lifestyle activities, such as carrying groceries, may have similar heart health benefits.

Tadwalkar advised that setting reminders to move every hour can encourage these short but intense activities.

“Many smartwatches and wearable devices already offer this functionality,” he continued. “People who work from home or in an office environment, standing desk and/or performing simple exercises on a regular basis. Other effective options include jumping jacks and squats. ”

“The key is to find opportunities to increase your heart rate in short intervals throughout the day to make your physical activity manageable and effective,” Tadwalker added. “Not only can these strategies help reduce cardiovascular risk, but they can also improve your overall energy and overall health.”