According to study released on Tuesday, even tiny daily activity bursts can benefit the heart, particularly for women.
According to a research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, small bursts of intense activity in daily life, like climbing stairs or lugging a bag of groceries to the vehicle, can significantly increase the risk of heart disease in those who don’t exercise.
The study contributes to an increasing quantity of data demonstrating the positive health effects of even little exercise. According to experts, it may be especially helpful in the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 25% of Americans do not engage in any physical exercise outside of work.
Dr. Meagan Wasfy, a sports cardiologist at Mass General Brigham in Boston who was not involved with the current study, stated, “The big takeaway is that it doesn’t matter how you move, all that matters is that you move more.”
The study examined data from over 22,000 self-described “nonexercisers” in the UK Biobank, ranging in age from 40 to 69. From 2013 to 2015, everyone wore an activity tracker for a week. The study found that women engaged in around nine brief bursts of strenuous exercise each day, whereas males engaged in an average of eleven, some lasting less than a minute.
The study’s lead researcher, Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle, and population health at the University of Sydney, explained that vigorous activity meant it had high intensity.
Then, through November 2022, the researchers searched for any cases of heart attacks, cardiac failure, or stroke. During the follow-up period, only roughly 800 patients experienced one of these serious cardiac issues.
However, compared to women who did not register any strenuous exercise during the day, those who engaged in just under 3.5 minutes of vigorous movement each day had a 45% decreased chance of developing any cardiac issues.
Most significantly, compared to women who did not engage in any strenuous activity, these women had an almost 70% lower risk of developing heart failure and a more than 50% lower risk of having a heart attack.
The advantage was less for men. They had a 16% lower chance of developing a serious cardiac condition if they engaged in strenuous exercise for around 5.5 minutes each day. However, there was no obvious advantage when the researchers separated out specific cardiac problems like heart attack or stroke.
According to Wasfy of Boston’s Mass General Brigham, persons who don’t now frequently exercise benefit most from little bursts of movement in daily life.
“Going from not moving at all to doing any movement has the biggest benefits for cardiovascular disease risk,” she added.
Women also receive more “bang for their buck” when it comes to the amount of time they spend exercising, which may help to explain why research participants who engaged in less intense physical exercise had higher reductions in their risk of heart disease.
“At lower doses, women can reap the same benefits of exercise as men,” Wasfy stated.
According to Carol Ewing Garber, a professor of movement science and education at Columbia University in New York City, quick bursts of activity are important for heart health because they break up extended periods of sedentary behavior.
Garber suggested that individuals who have desk jobs get up and go for a walk on a frequent basis. “If people break up their activity throughout the day, this can have a very powerful effect on things like blood glucose levels,” he said.
Garber emphasized that individuals should continue to aim for at least 150 minutes of intentional activity each week.
“I would hate for people to believe that they can avoid heart disease by doing this for just a few minutes every day,” he stated.
People should try to include these spontaneous, brief bursts of exercise into their everyday lives, according to Stamatakis, the study’s author.
“We are discussing consistent and frequent behavior, not a short-term solution that people can implement once every few days,” he stated.
“The small amounts of activity are not the most important aspect,” Stamatakis stated. “The activity’s consistency is the most significant finding.”
