A study in the European Journal of Heart showed that even 2 minutes each time and a cumulative 15 to 20 minutes of high-intensity exercise can reduce the risk of death by 16 to 40%. The best exercise volume is 50 to 57 minutes per week. Another study published at the same time also found that doing more moderate and high-intensity exercise is more conducive to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Both studies were included in the UK Biobank database for adults aged 40 to 69. Participants wore electronic devices on their wrists for seven consecutive days, objectively recording the total physical exercise energy consumption, including exercise of different intensities.
The first study included more than 70,000 adults without cardiovascular disease or cancer. The median age was 62.5 years. The researchers measured the total amount of high-intensity exercise per week and the frequency of exercise that lasted for two minutes or less. The average follow-up was 6.9 years.
study found that with the increase in the amount and frequency of high-intensity exercise, the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer death is all reduced, and even a small amount of exercise is beneficial.
People without high-intensity exercise have an absolute risk of death in five years of 4%. With less than 10 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week, the risk of death dropped to 2%, and with ≥60 minutes of high-intensity exercise, the risk dropped to 1%.
Compared with high-intensity exercise with only 2 minutes per week, the risk of all-cause death is reduced by 18% and the risk of cancer is reduced by 16% at 0 to 15 minutes. At 19.2 minutes/week, the risk of cardiovascular mortality was reduced by 40%.
In terms of frequency, a short period of four times a day (up to 2 minutes) of high-intensity exercise will have the lowest risk of death, a 27% reduction.
But low frequency high-intensity exercise still has health benefits: 10 short-term high-intensity exercises per week reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 16% and the risk of cancer by 17%.
The second study included nearly 90,000 adults without cardiovascular disease, with an average age of 62 years. The follow-up time was 6.8 years.
study found that increasing the total exercise volume and increasing the medium and high-intensity exercise volume are both related to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Especially under the same amount of exercise, increasing exercise intensity can greatly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
High-intensity exercise accounts for 20% of the total exercise volume. Compared with 10%, the risk of cardiovascular disease is reduced by 14%, which is equivalent to converting a 14-minute walk into a 7-minute quick step.
When high-intensity exercise accounts for 10% of the total exercise volume, the increase in exercise volume has no effect on cardiovascular risk. However, if the greater total exercise volume combined with the greater medium-high intensity exercise volume, the cardiovascular risk is the lowest.
Researchers pointed out that increasing exercise volume is not the only way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and increasing exercise intensity is especially important, while increasing both are better.
Source:
[1]Ahmadi MN, et al. Vigorous physical activity, incident heart disease, and cancer: how little is enough? Eur Heart J. 2022 Oct 27.
[2]Dempsey PC, et al. Physical Activity Volume, Intensity and Incident Cardiovascular Disease. Eur Heart J. 2022 Oct 27.
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