How Vilpa – 4-minute bursts of daily activity – can help fight heart disease in middle age

Four minutes a day of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (Vilpa) halve the risk of cardiovascular events in middle-aged women

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For middle-aged women, just four minutes a day of vigorous incidental physical activity – such as walking up stairs – can almost halve the risk of major cardiovascular events. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 3:15pm, 6 Dec 2024

You know you are not getting any younger and you need to get some exercise, but something keeps you from getting into the gym or yoga studio, or scheduling a regular run.

There is good news for middle-aged women who don’t do “structured” exercise: an average of just four minutes a day of vigorous incidental physical activity – exercise you do without really noticing and definitely without setting aside time and space for it – could almost halve the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, according to a new study.

“We found that a minimum of 1.5 minutes to an average of four minutes of daily vigorous physical activity, completed in short bursts lasting up to one minute, were associated with improved cardiovascular health outcomes in middle-aged women who do no structured exercise,” said lead author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, looked at high-intensity physical activity that forms part of a daily routine, known as “vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity”, or Vilpa. Longer Vilpa sessions, it found, are linked to significantly lower cardiovascular disease risk.

A few minutes of carrying shopping bags, and other short bursts of daily activity, may help lower your risk of cardiovascular problems. Photo: Shutterstock

The World Health Organization recommends that all adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week – which can include walking, cycling or even household chores – or at least 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise such as running or competing in sport.