Vigorous physical activity (VPA) is a time-efficient way to achieve recommended physical activity levels. There is a very limited understanding of the minimal and optimal amounts of vigorous physical activity in relation to mortality and disease incidence.
What might happen if you added as little as 2 minutes a day of burst (VPA) exercise (running, swimming, fast walking, hiking, rowing, calisthenics) to your day? Could it possibly reduce your risk of death and disease?
Methods and results
A prospective study in 71 893 adults [median age 62 years, 56% female] from the UK Biobank cohort with data from a wearable that measured activity and VPA (wrist-worn accelerometry) was studied
VPA volume (min/week) and frequency of short VPA bouts (≤2 min) were measured as indicators of bursts of activity at higher heart rates. The associations of VPA volume and frequency with mortality [all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer], and CVD and cancer incidence were examined during a mean follow-up of 6 years.
The 5-year absolute mortality risk was 4.2% for no VPA during a week, fell by half to 2.1% for >0 to <10 min of VPA, 1.8% or 10 to <30 min of VPA, 1.5% for 30 to <60 min of VPA, and 1.1% for ≥60 min of VPA each week.
The ‘optimal dose’ was 54 minutes/week of VPA or Burst Activity.
The association of VPA was also true for CVD mortality, all causes of mortality, and cancer mortality.
Conclusion
VPA of 15–20 min/week was associated with a 16–40% lower mortality, with further decreases up to 50–57 min/week of burst activities, averaging just 8 minutes a day of harder work than usual.
These findings suggest reduced health risks may be attainable through relatively modest amounts of VPA accrued in short bouts across the week. Adding in a burst of exercise of any kind to get your heart rate up and your circulation moving at a higher rate, even for short durations, has enormous benefits.
