Less than four minutes of intense physical activity daily would be enough to prevent a number of cardiovascular disorders in women, even those who generally sit still.
According to a study based on the analysis of data from 22,000 people aged 40 to 69, with just 3.5 minutes of vigorous physical activity, even if spread throughout the day, the risks of developing cardiovascular disease will drop by 45% in these women.
The risk of heart attack is up to 50%.
Exercises that can bring such significant benefits include simple activities, such as quickly climbing stairs for any reason, lifting shopping bags or other heavy objects and carrying them even a short distance such as from the shops to the car, and jogging.
The volunteers declared they were free of heart disease at the start of the study – they wore a bracelet that recorded their movements for a week at a time in 2013 or 2015.
Their health was followed until 2022.
At the end of the monitoring, the data that emerged showed a 45% lower overall cardiac risk in women who performed these very short physical exercises on a daily basis.
For men, who were also sedentary, vigorous but very brief activities had significantly smaller effects: the risk of heart problems was 16% lower in those of them who did about 5.5 minutes of vigorous movement per day.