One-minute burst of activity — think running for the bus — can help you live longer, study finds
A last-ditch sprint to catch the bus you're about to miss might actually help you live a longer and healthier life.
So says a new study, written in part by a McMaster University researcher, which suggests that three to four one-minute bursts of activity during daily tasks significantly reduces your risk of premature death and cardiovascular disease.
The study - published Dec. 8 and led by the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre in Australia - is the first of its kind to accurately measure what researchers have dubbed VILPA, short for vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity."
While exercise is typically planned and structured - we build it into our lives - VILPA is things we're doing anyway," explained Martin Gibala, a professor in Mac's kinesiology department and a co-author of the study.
Gibala said to think of VILPA - brief bouts of strenuous movement - like running for an early bus, power walking through the park, picking up the pace while walking groceries to your car or playing high-energy games with kids.
We found these types of activities could have substantial health benefits, especially for people who are unwilling or unable to engage in structured exercise," said Gibala, who's also leading researcher on the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
Using wrist-worn trackers, the team of researchers - who also hailed from University of Oxford, University College London, University of Glasgow and University of Southern Denmark - followed some 25,000 people who identified as nonexercisers over seven years for the study.
About 89 per cent of participants did some form of daily VILPA, with the average being eight VILPA bouts of up to one minute each everyday, according to the study. Just three to four one-minute of VILPA each day led to a 40 per cent reduction in all-cause and cancer-related mortality, the study found, and up to a 49 per cent decrease in cardiovascular-related death.
Gibala said a trend researchers were able to quickly pinpoint was that the larger and longer the VILPA amounts, the more benefits to participants' health. For example, a maximum of 11 bouts per day, was associated with a 65 per cent drop in cardiovascular death and a 49 per cent reduction in cancer-related death risk, compared to no VILPA.
Bottom line is if you're willing to huff and puff just a little bit, a very small dose can be associated with a very large benefit," Gibala said.
The research team hopes their findings can change global physical activity guidelines to reflect that not all exercise has to be long and strenuous in order to count.
Hopefully this is an empowering message for people and a reminder that all activity really counts," Gibala said.
Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com