Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death globally.
Past studies have shown there are several lifestyle modifications that can help lower a person’s risk for heart disease, including regular exercise.
Only 15–20% of the middle aged and older population exercise regularly.
A new study says that as little as 3 minutes of moderate incidental physical activity could potentially lower a person’s risk for cardiovascular diseases and death.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates indicate that about 17.9 million people worldwide die from cardiovascular disease each year, making it the leading cause of death globally.
Past studies have shown there are a number of lifestyle modifications a person can make to help lower their heart disease risk, including not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, alleviating stress, following a healthy diet, and exercising regularly.
To help protect your heart health, the American Heart Association’s (AHA) current guidelines suggest getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking or gardening, every week, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic exercise — such as running, swimming laps, and heavy yard work — along with strength training at least 2 days a week.
Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, MSc, BSc, professor of physical activity, lifestyle, and population health at The Faculty of Medicine and Health, and director of the Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub at Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia told Medical News Today:
“Physical inactivity is a major public health issue contributing to 6 million deaths per year globally, and many compromised lives due to disability and chronic disease. There is a pressing need to identify feasible ways for people to be physically active. Structured exercise such as using gyms, running, classes, etc. are great ways to improve health and wellbeing, but only 15-20% of the middle aged and older population do it regularly.”
Stamatakis is the lead author of a new study recently published in the journal Circulation, which found that as little as 3 minutes of moderate nonstructured exercise activity — known as incidental physical activity — could help lower a person’s risk for cardiovascular disease and death.
Can everyday activities count toward ‘regular exercise’?
For this study, researchers analyzed health data from more than 24,000 participants to the U.K. Biobank accelerometry substudy, where participants wore accelerometers on their wrists for 7 days.
All participants were classified as nonexercisers and had an average age of 62.
Through the accelerometers, scientists measured the incidental physical activity of all participants at different intensity levels — vigorous, moderate, and light.
Examples of incidental physical activity include climbing stairs, walking a dog, mopping the floor, mowing the lawn, and adding in extra walking by parking further away or getting off a bus or subway stop early. In short, it refers to everyday activities that require a somewhat higher level of physical exerton.
“Incidental physical activity, things we do as part of our daily routines, offers many, largely untapped, opportunities,” Stamatakis said. “However, we do not understand very well what is the best way to promote incidental activity, and how to support people [integrating] it into their day to day routines.”
“For example, most previous research on the health effects of physical activity focused on questionnaire measured exercise and sports participation done in long blocks of time [of] 15 continuous minutes and over,” he noted.
“Incidental activities are short and sporadic, so most of existing research gives us limited information on incidental physical activity, including [vigorous incidental physical activity],” said Stamatakis.
1 minute of vigorous incidental physical activity linked to lower heart disease risk
Upon analysis, Stamatakis and his team found that about 4.6 minutes per day of vigorous-intensity incidental physical activity and about 23.8 minutes per day of moderate incidental physical activity were correlated to a significantly lower risk for both cardiovascular events and deaths.
“Assuming that these findings reflect causal relationships, their implications would be significant in the practical sense, both for lay people and clinicians, such as general practitioners and cardiologists,” Stamatakis said.
“These findings suggest that supporting people to develop habits that involve integrating into their daily routine regular bouts of incidental activity of moderate or vigorous intensity, i.e. an effort that gets you out at least slightly out of breath, could be beneficial for long term heart health.”
– Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, MSc, BSc
Additionally, the researchers discovered that participating in about 1 minute of vigorous-intensity incidental physical activity had a similar impact on reducing heart disease and death risk as about 3–3.5 minutes of moderate-intensity incidental physical activity and about 35–48 minutes of light incidental physical activity.
“Many people are unaccustomed to high intensity exercise, partly because they do not have the time or interest or capacity to do vigorous sports and such structured exercise,” Stamatakis noted.
“In the context of incidental activity, vigorous intensity is ultra efficient. First, you do not need to make the time for it — [it] happens during regular activities. Plus, as our findings suggest, it can make a big health return per minute. A win-win for people who do not customarily exercise,” he added.
“Use existing opportunities to increase physical activity intensity in day to day life, e.g. use stairs instead of elevators,” he suggested. “Start from any amount that feels comfortable and build to at least around four to five minutes of vigorous or 15–25 minutes of moderate intensity activity a day, or equivalent combinations of moderate and vigorous.“
“Such activity can be accumulated during the day through short bouts lasting from 30 seconds to five minutes. If such opportunities are not readily available, create them, e.g park the car 500 [meters] away and walk fast to the final destination,” the researcher advised.
Taking the stairs could make a difference for heart health
MNT had the opportunity to speak with Hoang Nguyen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, about this study.
Nguyen, who was not involved in the research, said he appreciated its novel approach to determine if incidental physical activity confers cardiovascular mortality and/or overall mortality benefits.
“[Incidental physical activity] are routine activities of daily living such house-hold chores, transportation, or leisure activities,” Nguyen explained. “As it turns out, even moderate [incidental physical activity] (24 minutes per day) can confer a significant reduction in all-cause mortality, up to 47%. This is very promising as it is not just cardiovascular mortality, it is indeed all-cause mortality.”
“People are often discouraged by structured exercises [such as] going to the gym, etc., because they simply don’t have the time or the resources to do so,” he continued. “What this study shows us is that incidental physical activity can have a significant impact on cardiovascular health and allow people to live longer.”
Nguyen added:
“I often encourage my patients who do not participate in structured exercise programs to increase cardiovascular fitness by adopting more physical activity with activities [in] their daily lives. These include using the stairs rather than the elevator when going to work or running errands. They can walk to their local restaurants rather than drive there if feasible. Finding new ways to promote healthy living with minimal effort and resources have a significant impact on one’s longevity, morbidities, and strain on the healthcare system.”
In search of the ‘optimal dose’ of incidental physical activity
MNT also spoke with Grant Simons, MD, FACC, FHRS, chief of Heart Rhythm Services at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, about this research.
“This finding is exciting due to its analysis of short bursts of activity, which is new and noteworthy,” Simons, who was not involved in the study, commented.
“Although it is well-established that regular physical activity, even at moderate levels, significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death, a frequent question our patients ask is regarding whether short bursts of activity are of benefit,” he noted.
“This new study strengthens the case for incorporating more movement into our daily lives, even in small doses, and provides more specific guidance on how little can still make a difference,” Simons continued. “It also encourages further research to refine these recommendations and explore the optimal ‘dose’ of incidental activity for different populations.”
“The research on short bursts of vigorous or moderate activity and their impact on cardiovascular health is promising, but more work is needed to solidify these findings and translate them into effective public health recommendations,” he added. “Larger studies with more diverse populations (age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, pre-existing health conditions) are needed to confirm the findings and understand how these short activity bursts affect different groups.”
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