How to Make Brief Bursts of Activity Improve Heart Health

Here’s examples of how a few minutes a day of brief vigorous activity can lower risk of heart attack and other cardiac events in people who don’t exercise.

If you don’t have a regular exercise regimen, there’s still a way to improve your cardiovascular health through physical activity.

A study from the University of Sydney has shown that as little as four minutes of incidental vigorous physical activity daily could significantly lower the risk of heart attacks and other major cardiovascular events for middle-age women — who don’t do regular structured exercise (e.g., jogging, hiking, aerobics class, karate).

Men in the study also had benefits.

The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggests that short, intense bursts of physical activity — lasting up to one minute — could be a highly effective way to improve cardiovascular health.

Examples of such brief bursts of movement include briskly going up a staircase and running while pushing a shopping cart in a parking lot.

It could also mean scooping up your medium size dog and, for the fun and activity of it, carrying him up a full staircase.

Microbursts of expenditure have been associated with improved heart health outcomes.

It’s great news that even brief periods of vigorous activity, integrated into daily life, could be an asset for people who find it troublesome to stick to traditional forms of exercise.

Fewer than 20% of middle-age or older adults participate in regular structured exercise such as strength training, yoga classes or playing organized sports.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, who led the research, explains in the paper that making short bursts of vigorous action a part of everyday life could offer a practical alternative to structured exercise.

For people who lack enthusiasm for methodical workouts, brief insertions of high-energy movement could improve their cardiovascular health.

More Examples of Short Exercise Bursts

If you already have a staircase in your house, merely walking and especially slogging up the steps is NOT what’s meant by vigorous, intense or high-energy.

Make a point to briskly climb the stairs every time you use them. You can also climb them two at a time, or run up them as quickly as you safely can.

Need to return a shopping cart to the collection area of a parking lot? Don’t just walk it over; DASH it over.

Need to go inside a convenience store after filling up your car? Sprint to it; don’t mind what strangers may think. It’s your heart, not theirs.

A distance is never too short to run as fast as you can; run to your mail box at the end of your driveway; run back into your house.

And unless you have an injury, abstain from asking a store employee to put a heavy item into your car; do it yourself!

When I was 16 I worked in the garden department of a department store.

A woman bought a 40 pound bag of potting soil and, verbatim, asked, “Is there a man who could put this in my trunk?”

I replied, “I’ll do it.” And I did. We can argue all day that maybe this customer had a bad shoulder, but I’ll bet the farm that she just didn’t want to do the work.

How the Study Was Done

The research involved 22,368 participants, including 13,018 women and 9,350 men, 40-79, all of whom reported not engaging in regular structured exercise.

The data, collected from the UK Biobank between 2013 and 2015, included detailed information from participants who wore physical activity trackers for seven days.

Cardiovascular health was monitored through hospital and mortality records, tracking major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes and heart failure up until November 2022.

Women who averaged just 3.4 minutes of intense activity each day saw a 45% reduction in the risk of a major cardiovascular event.

In addition, they were 51% less likely to suffer a heart attack and 67% less likely to develop heart failure compared to those who did not engage in any brief bursts.

Even smaller amounts of around 1.2 to 1.6 minutes per day led to a 30% lower risk of major cardiovascular events, a 33% reduction in heart attack risk, and a 40% lower risk of heart failure.

What about the men?

Men also benefited but not as much. Those who did an average of 5.6 minutes daily experienced a 16% lower risk of a major cardiovascular event, compared to the women’s 45% lower risk with 3.4 minutes/day.

Men who did as little as 2.3 minutes per day showed only an 11% reduction in risk of cardiovascular events.

Other Key Points

The study also called attention to the importance of forming a consistent habit of engaging in vigorous physical activity.

Professor Stamatakis says that the benefits of inserting brief bursts of activity were most noticeable in women who committed to incorporating it into their daily routine.

However, he adds that this should not be seen as a quick fix, but rather, as a starting point for building a sustainable, long-term habit that could transform into a more structured exercise regimen over time.

The researchers don’t know why women had higher percentages of risk reduction, but this doesn’t mean that men should brush off the findings, either.

Both men and women who otherwise don’t regularly exercise should get into the habit of inserting brief intense activity every single day.

This study reminds me of the time I was living in an apartment above a middle age couple.

One day I observed the woman try to move a large potted plant that was on her patio below me. After budging it an inch, she disappeared inside.

A few moments later, out came her husband and he moved the plant.

Now, it’s one thing if an item is simply too heavy to move. But I also doubt that this plant weighed a hundred pounds.

Assuming that the woman had no shoulder or back maladies, I’m pretty sure she could’ve moved it; she just wasn’t up to the task, especially with her husband nearby.

This would’ve been a good example of a brief burst of high physical output.

The whole idea behind this research is to add in vigorous activity. So YES, the activity is supposed to feel like work!

At the same time, you don’t want to be risking throwing your back out. If you feel you might injure your back upon moving something heavy around the house, then this means one or both of two things:

You don’t know how to move or lift a heavy object properly.
You’re out of shape.

Okay, I don’t expect people who don’t exercise to magically hoist around a small refrigerator, but something like lifting a potted plant, a medium size dog, a young child, a crate of books, garbage bags, the vacuum cleaner up the staircase, are all great examples of opportunities to add intermittent intense physical activity into your day.

Your heart will love you for this!