A recent study done by the British Journal of Sports Medicine finds that it takes only four minutes a day of high-intensity activity, like climbing the stairs instead of riding an elevator, to cut a woman’s risk of having a heart attack by up to 50 percent. Brief bursts of intense exertion, often part of everyday life, may be just what people need to begin improving their heart health.
The scientists investigated how short periods of vigorous exercise, which they term intense intermittent lifestyle physical activity would impact cardiovascular health across both sexes. The bottom line was that even smaller amounts of intense exercise had much to reduce dangerous cardiovascular events. For women, this was enough to counter heart risks in just between 1.5 minutes and 4 minutes during a day of strenuous exercise.
Heart Attack
The study, which looked at data from 81,052 middle-aged participants in the UK Biobank, found that a woman who did an average of 3.4 minutes of vigorous activity a day, without formal exercise, had a 45 percent lower risk of heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure. In fact, the chance of heart attack was reduced by 51 percent, whereas the chance of heart failure by 67 percent.
Whereas this was less pronounced in the men, the benefits were also less marked. Men with 5.6 minutes of such activity per day but without any formal exercise had a risk reduction of 16% for heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.
Results are most important for women since they are generally more inactive and have lower cardiorespiratory fitness compared to men. According to senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, Regina Giblin, even though it makes all the difference in heart health, especially in middle-aged women who are not regular exercisers, daily bursts of activity in short periods. For those who can exercise, it is still worthwhile to undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
