Good news if you don’t like to exercise. According to research from the University of Sydney, 3 to 4 minutes of vigorous physical activity a day such as climbing stairs, carrying your groceries or doing housework is enough to reduce the risk of death from heart disease by half.
- The majority of adults aged 40 and over do not participate in regular exercise or sports.
- On the other hand, 89% of the participants had carried out intense intermittent physical activities.
- On average, each day, participants performed 8 bouts of vigorous activity lasting up to one minute, totaling 6 minutes per day.
To cut your risk of death from cardiovascular disease in half, you don’t have to spend your day in the gym. Have 3 to 4 “daily intense intermittent physical activities” a minute every day is enough, according to a study by the University of Sydney published in NatureMedicine.
These “vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activities” for English speakers (VILPA) correspond to very fast intense physical activities such as running to catch your train, mopping the floor, doing the windows, returning from the supermarket carrying your shopping, climbing the stairs, playing on the ball with his children…
Heart disease: short intense activities reduce the risk of death
For their work, the scientists at the Australian establishment used the UK Biobank biomedical database. They analyzed the files of more than 25,000 participants equipped with a movement tracker for 7 years, who had declared that they did not practice sport. Thus, all their physical activities were “incidental”, that is to say VILPA.
Researchers have found that just three to four one-minute bouts of intermittent vigorous activity per day are associated with a reduction in all-cause or cancer-related mortality of up to 40%. The largest decrease recorded concerns cardiovascular diseases. The reduction reached 49%.
The study shows that the more episodes, the more beneficial it is for health. The maximum of 11 VILPA per day was associated with a 65% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular death and a 49% reduction in the risk of cancer-related death.
Short intense activities as effective as a sports session
A comparative analysis of the vigorous activities of 62,000 people who exercised regularly showed comparable results. “This implies that whether vigorous activity is done through structured exercise or housework does not compromise the health benefits”assures the scientific team
“A few very short bouts totaling three to four minutes a day can go a long way, and there are many daily activities that can be modified to get your heart rate up for about a minute”adds Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis of Charles Perkins Center at the University of Sydney.
“Increasing the intensity of daily activities requires no time commitment, no preparation, no club memberships, no special skills. It’s just picking up the pace by walking or doing chores with a little more energy. ‘energy”concludes the expert.
