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Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

Build up scattered bursts of effort such as climbing stairs and walking fast to 4 or 5 minutes a day

  • High value
  • Evidence A
  • Buys life
  • Disputed
  • Free
  • Takes minutes
  • Some willpower

In plain words

For people who don't exercise at all, having three bursts of 1 or 2 minutes of vigorous activity a day is linked to about a 40% lower chance of dying over the same period than having none, and nearly half the cardiovascular death. Vigorous activity means things like climbing stairs or hurrying along at a fast walk.

Cost

Free, and you don't need to carve out extra exercise time. The hard part is remembering to take the stairs and walk faster instead of taking the easy way.

What you get

A UK Biobank study covered 25,200 (2.52万) people who did not normally exercise on purpose. They were followed for an average of 6.9 years, and 852 of them died. Some people had 3 short bursts of vigorous activity a day, each 1–2 minutes. Compared with people who had none, their risk of death and of cancer death was 38%–40% lower. Their risk of cardiovascular death was 48%–49% lower. People with 4.4 minutes of such activity in total a day had 26%–30% lower risk of death and cancer death. Cardiovascular death risk was 32%–34% lower

Notes

Disputed. This study measured activity with wearable devices, which is more reliable than asking people to recall it on a questionnaire. But it still only followed people, with no trial that assigned groups, and it followed them for only 6.9 years. The people studied did no exercise at all, so this item does not apply to people who already exercise regularly.

Evidence grade
A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.
Sources
  1. Stamatakis E, Ahmadi MN, Gill JMR, et al. (2022). Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality. Nature Medicine, 28, 2521-2529. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02100-x

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 2, tip 15. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer