- two minutes bursts of vigorous physical activity—totaling 15 minutes a week: associated with a reduced risk of death, cancerY heart diseaseaccording to new research.
- The study shows that relatively low amounts of weekly vigorous physical activity can result in health benefits.
- Experts describe how including short bursts of exercise in your daily routine can result in long-term benefits. health outcomes.
Research shows that regular exercise results in a lower risk of developing several long-term (chronic) conditions, such as cancer and heart disease. However, new research, published in the european journal of the heartfocuses on the intensity and duration of exercise necessary for people to see health benefits.
For their study, the researchers recruited 71,893 adults without any evidence of cardiovascular disease or cancer. Participants were selected from the UK Biobank study, a prospective cohort of participants aged 40 to 69 years.
The researchers looked at the associations between the amount and frequency with which people engaged in vigorous physical activity with death (from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
To understand the difference between moderate physical activity and vigorous physical activitythe researchers defined moderate physical activity as exercise that markedly raises heart rate but doesn’t necessarily leave people breathless.
However, vigorous physical activity is likely to cause an increase in heart rate, and people will often need to pause for breath when speaking. Examples of vigorous physical activity include sprinting, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), swimming, or high-speed cycling.
The researchers found that the risk of all of the adverse outcomes under investigation decreased as people increased the amount and frequency with which they participated in vigorous physical activity.
For example, participants who did not engage in vigorous physical activity had a 4% risk of dying within five years. This risk was halved to 2% with less than 10 minutes of weekly vigorous activity and halved again to 1% if people did 60 minutes or more.
The participants received wearable devices to monitor their physical activity.
The device allowed to classify the intensity of physical activity in:
- vigorous physical activity
- moderate-intensity physical activity
- light intensity physical activity
Today’s medical news main author interviewed Dr. Matthew Ahmadipostdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney.
“This is one of the largest portable devices [studies] in the world and the first to assess the health benefits of vigorous physical activity,” said Dr. Ahmadi.
“We found that just 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week can reduce all-cause mortality and cancer risk by 15%, and 20 minutes a week can reduce heart disease risk by 40%. With additional health benefits up to about 50 to 60 minutes per week.”
— Dr. Mateo Ahmadi
Dr. Ahmadi explained some other key findings of this research to MNT:
“[Our] The results show that lower amounts of weekly vigorous physical activity were associated with health benefits against mortality, cancer, and heart disease than previously known from research evidence, of which more than 90% were based on self-reported data.
He said that by using wearable devices to track participants’ physical activity levels, they were able to get more objective and accurate measurements.
“These factors contributed to the novelty of our findings that contrast with self-report research evidence,” he added.
Dr. Ahmadi said their findings “provide important information for clinicians in treating patients at high risk for chronic disease and for public health messages to the general public. The findings will also provide important evidence in the next iteration of the US, UK and WHO physical activity guidelines.”
“Overall, we found that much shorter durations of vigorous physical activity were needed to reduce risks of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, any physical activity that a person engages in provides an opportunity for vigorous physical activity, if they can perform the activity at a faster pace or with greater intensity for short periods of time.
— Dr. Mateo Ahmadi
Doing more intense activities for short periods can also be easier to fit into daily routines.
“This may be particularly important for people who don’t have the time or desire to go to a gym or do ‘traditional’ exercise,” added Dr. Ahmadi.
mike jamesa specialist physiotherapist and sports scientist dubbed the “endurance physio”, and consulting partner of INCUS Performancewho was not involved in the study, also spoke with MNT.
James told MNT that such studies were helpful in highlighting the benefits of various types of exercise, both long-term and for general well-being.
“The most important takeaway is that people should be liberated by the fact that there is no single or mandatory way to achieve the health benefits of exercise,” he said.
“For those people who are already exercising, that’s great and they should keep doing it. But for people who can’t get to a gym, they can still reap the health benefits of vigorous physical activity by doing their daily activities at a faster pace, even if it’s only for short periods of time. For example, gardening or housework at a slightly higher intensity for short periods, or brisk walking interspersed with a comfortable walking pace when walking during the day.”
— Mike James, Physiotherapist Specialist
James had the following recommendations for people interested in starting higher intensity exercises:
“It may be a case of gradually increasing the intensity over time and certainly not starting initially as a means of physical training. For many, a low-level, less intense plan that progresses to this type of exercise may be a sensible way to start before moving on to it. For others, it could be an alternative type of fitness to use when life gets tough for exercise, work trips, school vacations, etc.
It also warned people to consult with a health or fitness professional before embarking on adding a new or different type of exercise plan to their routines.
When considering how much exercise time is enough, Dr. Ahmadi noted that the study showed there may be an optimum, which he says MNT that “during any given week, this will allow them to build up that ‘sweet spot’ of 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week or a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes per week.”
James noted that vigorous physical activity may not be right for everyone.
“We need to be cautious and aware that even short bursts of high-intensity vigorous activity may not immediately be appropriate for many based on their current activity, fitness, health status or injury history,” James said.
James also stressed that for such activities to become habits, all fitness and exercise plans need commitment and adherence over a period of time, adding that “anything that can lower the barriers to doing this can be a good thing.”
