A few bursts of vigorous movement a day may cut women's heart risks, study says
Short bursts of movement throughout the day — no matter how small — can help the heart, especially for women, research published Tuesday found.
Short bursts of movement throughout the day — no matter how small — can help the heart, especially for women, research published Tuesday found.
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that, in people who didn’t exercise, these short bursts of vigorous activity in everyday life, such as carrying a load of groceries to the car or going up a flight of stairs, can have a big effect on heart disease risk.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence showing that even small amounts of exercise are good for health. And it may be particularly beneficial, experts say, in the U.S., where about one-quarter of Americans don’t do any physical activity outside of work, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The big takeaway is, it doesn’t matter how you move, all that matters is that you move more,” said Dr. Meagan Wasfy, a sports cardiologist at Mass General Brigham in Boston who wasn’t involved with the new study.
The study looked at data from about 22,000 people ages 40 to 69 from the UK Biobank who were self-proclaimed “nonexercisers.” Everyone wore an activity tracker for one week in 2013 to 2015. On average, men in the study did 11 short bursts of vigorous activity during the day, some which lasted less than a minute, and women did about nine. Vigorous activity meant it was high intensity, said Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney, who led the study.
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