Studies show that fewer than 1 in 5 middle-age adults engage in regular exercise. But nearly everyone engages in micropatterns of physical activity, aka short bouts of daily living activities—in other words, chores or errands. Now, a study from Australia has looked at the associations of bouts of moderate-to-vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity and the proportion of vigorous activity contributing within these bouts with mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Using Biobank data from 25,241 adults (mean age 61.8 yrs) who used wrist-worn accelerometers, the researchers reported that people who did 1–3 minutes of such activities over the course of the day had a 34% lower risk of early death or MACE over the 7.9-year study period. The study participants averaged 27 mins/day of moderate-to-vigorous activity with no formal workouts. Movement matters!
Source: Ahmadi MN, Hamer M, Gill JMR, et al. Brief bouts of device-measured intermittent lifestyle physical activity and its association with major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality in people who do not exercise: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health. 2023;8(10):e800-e810. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00183-4.
