(Montreal) Three or four minutes a day of vigorous physical activity would be enough to halve the risk of death from cardiovascular causes, shows an Australian study in which an Ontario researcher collaborated.
Even better, those three or four minutes are actually daily activities that are converted into vigorous exercise. So there is no question of trying to find extra time in already overloaded days.
“There are no more excuses,” said Professor Martin Gibala of McMaster University of those who claim to be too busy to keep fit.
Led by Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis of the University of Sydney, the study published by the scientific journal NatureMedicine was interested in what the researchers call in English the “vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity” (VILPA), and which could be translated as the “intense intermittent physical activity of the lifestyle”.
Running to the bus stop, climbing the stairs quickly or picking up the pace while grocery shopping are some examples of VILPA.
The researchers studied some 25,000 UK Biobank participants for seven years who described themselves as sedentary. A physical activity monitor worn by the subjects revealed that 89% of them practiced some form of VILPA every day, and that 93% of these VILPAs lasted about one minute.
Physical activity monitors, Prof Gibala explained, can be used “to pick up those brief bursts of VILPA that aren’t picked up otherwise”.
“So you can learn more about the health benefits, or the potential benefits, of these very small bouts of physical activity,” he said.
Study participants performed an average of eight VILPA sessions per day; each lasted a minute or less, for a total of about six minutes each day.
In addition to reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 49%, a few minutes a day of VILPA was associated with a 40% drop in the risk of death from all causes and the risk of death from cancer.
The greatest health benefits were found when comparing participants who did four or five VILPA sessions a day to those who did none.
However, the maximum of 11 VILPA sessions per day was associated with a 65% reduction in the risk of death from cardiovascular causes and a 49% reduction in the risk of death from cancer, again compared to no VILPA sessions.
“It’s really striking in terms of relative risk reduction,” Professor Gibala concluded. We hope it will motivate people when they see how little it would take to achieve such potentially significant benefits. »
eight minutes a day
Another study, this one published by Australian researchers in the European Heart Journal, indicates that just eight minutes of vigorous physical activity per day (for a total of less than one hour per week) is associated with a reduction of 35 % risk of cardiovascular disease and 36% risk of death from all causes.
The researchers sifted through data generated by physical activity monitors worn by more than 71,000 British subjects. This allowed them to see that, as you might expect, the more you move, the more health benefits you get.
The surprise is more due to the fact that the protective effect seems to stabilize after a certain moment. Bursts of physical activity, the researchers explain in a statement, improve blood pressure, fight plaque that clogs arteries and increase overall fitness.
They would also be more effective than moderate exercises in helping the body to adapt to the demands placed on it.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. It is also recommended to work on muscle strength, for example by lifting weights, at least twice a week.
But barely half of Americans would hit the target of 150 minutes a week, and less than a quarter would work their muscle strength twice a week.
Eight minutes a day, instead of 30 minutes, could therefore represent a more attractive and motivating target for some.