Heart health and exercise go hand in hand, but if you're under the impression that you need to log miles on the treadmill or around the neighborhood, you may be mistaken. A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicinefound that women can do muchless and still actively help their hearts.
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Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia found that an average of four minutes of "incidental vigorous physical activity" daily could slash women's risk of major cardiovascular risks by 50 percent. The results were specific to middle-aged women who didn't exercise regularly.
"We found that a minimum of 1.5 minutes to an average of 4 minutes of daily vigorous physical activity, completed in short bursts lasting up to 1 minute, were associated with improved cardiovascular health outcomes in middle-aged women who do no structured exercise,” lead author Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, director of the Mackenzie Wearable Hub at the Charles Perkins Centre and the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, said in a press release.
Shorter sessions of this "vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity" (VILPA) may include briskly climbing the stairs, carrying heavy hauls from your shopping trip, playing with your kids or your dog, or power walking.
The researchers highlighted the importance of the findings, as it hasn't previously been understood how helpful tiny increments of VILPA could be for cardiovascular risks. In addition, the positive findings provide an alternative for those who don't like exercise.
"Making short bursts of vigorous physical activity a lifestyle habit could be a promising option for women who are not keen on structured exercise or are unable to do it for any reason," Stamatakis said in the press release.
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The study evaluated data from 13,018 women and 9,350 men who were included in the UK Biobank. Participants didn't regularly exercise, and all wore physical activity trackers for about 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, between 2013 and 2015.
Researchers then looked at hospital and mortality records to track cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, and heart failure until Nov. 2022.
After they adjusted for factors like lifestyle, ethnicity, and coexisting conditions, researchers found that women who averaged 3.4 minutes a day of VILPA were 45 percent less likely to experience a major cardiovascular event than those who didn't do any VILPA. Even better, their risks of heart attack and heart failure were slashed by 51 and 67 percent, respectively.
They didn't need to meet that 3.4-minute mark either; getting between 1.2 and 1.6 minutes of VILPA lowered the risk of cardiovascular events as well, albeit by smaller percentages.
Men, on the other hand, didn't benefit as much from these shorter stints of VILPA. An average of 5.6 minutes led to only a 16 percent lower risk of a major cardiovascular event, while 2.3 minutes was associated with an 11 percent lower risk. In a separate press release, researchers noted that there were no associations with individual major events like heart attack or stroke.
"Importantly, the beneficial associations we observed were in women who committed to short bursts of VILPA almost daily," Stamatakis said. "This highlights the importance of habit formation, which is not always easy."
He continued, "VILPA should not be seen as a quick fix—there are no magic bullets for health. But our results show that even a little bit higher intensity activity can help and might be just the thing to help people develop a regular physical activity—or even exercise—habit."
