People who do just a few minutes of vigorous exercise each day are less likely to develop eight major diseases, including arthritis, heart disease, and dementia, according to a study published in . european heart journal Today (Monday).
Researchers conducted a detailed study of nearly 96,000 people, comparing their overall activity level and amount of strenuous activity, and their subsequent risk of eight major diseases.
Researchers have found that even short bursts of more intense exercise, such as running for the bus, can lower your overall risk of illness and death, and are particularly effective against inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. Serious cardiovascular disease such as heart attack or stroke. And dementia.
The study was conducted by an international team including Professor Mingxue Shen of Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Hunan Province, China.
We know that physical activity reduces the risk of chronic disease and early death, and there is growing evidence that vigorous activity provides greater health benefits per minute than moderate activity. However, questions remain about the importance of vigorous activity to total physical activity. For example, if two people perform the same total amount of activity, will the person who exercises more vigorously reap greater health benefits? And should those with limited time focus on more intense exercise rather than longer periods of exercise?”
Minxue Shen, Professor, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Hunan Province, China
The study involved 96,408 participants from the UK Biobank study. Each participant wore an accelerometer on their wrist for a week to accurately measure their movements, including short bouts of vigorous movement that people tend to forget. The researchers used these measurements to quantify each person’s total weekly activity and the percentage of activity that was strenuous enough to leave them breathless.
The researchers compared this data to the likelihood of dying or developing eight serious health conditions over the next seven years: serious cardiovascular disease, arrhythmia, type 2 diabetes, immune-mediated inflammatory disease, liver disease, chronic respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.
They found that people who spent a higher proportion of their total physical activity in strenuous activity had a significantly lower risk of all diseases. For example, compared to people who were never physically active, those with the highest rates had a 63% lower risk of developing dementia, a 60% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and a 46% lower risk of death. These benefits of vigorous activity persisted even if they were modest in duration.
The researchers also found that the rate of strenuous activity was more important for some diseases than for others. For example, in the case of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and psoriasis, intensity was almost everything in reducing risk. For other diseases, such as diabetes and chronic liver disease, both activity volume and intensity were important.
Professor Shen said: “Intense physical activity appears to trigger certain reactions in the body that cannot be fully replicated by low-intensity activity. During intense physical activity that leaves you feeling short of breath, the body reacts strongly. The heart pumps more efficiently, the blood vessels become more flexible, and the body’s ability to use oxygen increases.”
“Vigorous activity appears to reduce inflammation, which may help explain why we’ve seen strong associations with inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis and arthritis. Vigorous activity may also stimulate chemicals in the brain that help keep brain cells healthy, which may help explain a lower risk of dementia.”
“Our findings suggest that increasing some portion of your physical activity can provide substantial health benefits. You don’t have to go to the gym to do this. Adding short, breath-taking activities to your daily routine, such as getting up the stairs faster, walking briskly between errands, or playing briskly with your kids, can make a big difference. Adding 15 to 20 minutes of this type of effort per week, or 1. Even just a few minutes per day led to significant health benefits.”
“Current guidelines generally focus on how much time you spend being active per week. Our findings suggest that the composition of that activity is important and varies in importance depending on the disease you are trying to prevent. This could open the door to more personalized physical activity recommendations based on an individual’s specific health risks.”
“Strength exercise may not be safe for everyone, especially older adults and people with certain medical conditions. For them, increased movement can still be beneficial, and exercise should be tailored to the individual.”
sauce:
European Society of Cardiology
Reference magazines:
Wei, J. others. (2026). Amount and intensity of physical activity and risk of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular chronic diseases. european heart journal. DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehag168. https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehag168/8537159
