New research illuminates the importance of incidental physical activity (IPA) for heart health.
IPA is the movement we engage in outside of structured workouts.
Experts share how you can prioritize IPA and potentially lower your heart attack and stroke risk.
Past research has found that as little as 30 minutes of daily exercise can lower heart attack risk. Similarly, prolonged sitting has been found to damage heart health, even if you exercise regularly. Now, a new study finds that incidental physical activity (like cleaning the house or gardening) may lower your heart attack and stroke risk, which gives you a good reason to keep up with your chores.
Meet the Experts: Srihari S. Naidu, M.D., cardiologist and professor of medicine at New York Medical College, Craig Basman, M.D., cardiologist and associate director of the Structural & Congenital Heart Program at Hackensack University Medical Center, and Lindsay Sarrel, N.P., board-certified adult geriatric nurse practitioner with Manhattan Cardiology.
Below, cardiologists explain the study and its findings, and how they may apply to your daily movement and potential heart health risks.
What is incidental physical activity?
“Incidental physical activity (IPA) is the general activity we do daily as part of our normal routine—at home, at work, or simply running errands,” explains Srihari S. Naidu, M.D., cardiologist and professor of medicine at New York Medical College. “It is different than leisure exercise or working out.” Experts categorize IPA into three types: light, moderate, and vigorous. Dr. Naidu likens vigorous to hiking, moderate to walking, and light to anything less intense than walking. Other examples of IPA are the cleaning tasks that might make you break a sweat, like going up and down stairs with laundry or mowing the lawn, adds Craig Basman, M.D., cardiologist and associate director of the Structural & Congenital Heart Program at Hackensack University Medical Center.
“Today, with all of our modern conveniences, the amount of IPA required each day has declined,” says Dr. Basman. “Whereas in the past, many of these activities were built into the fabric of everyday life. In today’s era, people often have to consciously choose to be active, which is why the concept of leisure-time exercise, such as going to the gym to work out, has become so prominent.”
What did the study find?
Researchers followed 24,139 middle-aged non-exercisers from 2013 to 2015 and tracked their daily activity using data from wrist-worn accelerometer devices. Eight years later, researchers compared the collected data to participants’ health and analyzed their cardiovascular risks. They found that an average of 4.6 minutes of vigorous IPA a day or around 24 minutes of moderate IPA a day was associated with up to 38% and 50% lower risk of cardiovascular events (including deaths), respectively.
Those numbers extrapolated down to approximately: One minute of vigorous or three to 3.5 minutes of moderate daily IPA could cut your risk of heart attack or stroke in half.
What the findings may mean for you
If you’re not a gym goer or can’t be tied to a specific exercise routine, but tend to stay active around the house and socially, you could be doing more than you realize for your heart health. According to the study’s findings, the more IPA you engage in, theoretically, the lower your cardiovascular risks become, explains Lindsay Sarrel, N.P., board-certified adult geriatric nurse practitioner with Manhattan Cardiology.
“Intensity is what matters most,” adds Dr. Basman. “The study found that it’s not just about moving, but how you move…vigorous and moderate activities (the kind that get you a little out of breath) are what really count for protecting your heart.”
These findings are especially important for the aging community, as we tend to lose mobility with age. “IPA provides a practical solution to time constraints, physical limitations, cost and access to expensive gym memberships, and the intimidation of doing some exercise routines that may seem overwhelming,” Dr. Basman says.
Still, these findings don’t discount the importance of other heart-healthy lifestyle habits, he notes, such as eating a healthy diet, monitoring cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and avoiding smoking. Also, Sarrel says that, if you can, it’s good to still aim for the standard recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week, but it can be encouraging to know there are other, more convenient ways to maintain your health and fit movement in, if needed.
“The benefits of either one are excellent and significant,” says Dr. Naidu. “So go for a walk during lunch time, take the stairs instead of the elevator, jog to catch the bus instead of walking, and maybe even stand up and do some jumping jacks between Zoom sessions—it is all worth doing and counts!”
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