Do not have time to exercise? Here's a simple trick that everyone can insert

Have you recently worn heavy shopping bags up a few stairs? Or run the last 100 meters up to the train station to catch your train? If you did, you may have unconsciously practiced an activity style called accidental physical activity.

Our article, published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, shows that this type of habitual occasional activity that puts you uncomfortable is likely to have beneficial health effects, even if you do it in gusts of 30 seconds spread all day long.

In fact, incorporating more high-intensity activities into our daily activities – whether it's sucking up the carpet vigorously or going up to buy your lunch – could be the key to helping us all to do the same. high quality exercise every day.

And that includes people who are overweight and unfit.

What is a high intensity exercise?

Until recently, most health authorities have prescribed an activity for at least ten continuous minutes, although no credible scientific evidence warrants it.

This recommendation was recently refuted by the advisory report on the 2018 US Physical Activity Guidelines. The new guidelines indicate that any movement is important for health, regardless of its duration.

This badessment of short episodes of physical activity is consistent with the fundamental principles of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

HIIT in an extremely popular diet consisting of short, repeated sessions of six seconds to four minutes, with pauses of 30 seconds to four minutes.

Among a range of treatment regimens, we regularly find that any type of high intensity interval training, regardless of the number of repetitions, quickly improves physical fitness and improves cardiovascular fitness and fitness.

Indeed, when we repeat regularly, even short periods of intense exercise, we ask our body to adapt (in other words, to become in better physical shape) in order to be able to better meet the physical demands of life (or the next time we exercise).

The same principle is at play during casual physical activities. Even brief 20-second sessions of stairs (60 steps) repeated three times a day three days a week for six weeks can lead to measurable improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness.

This type of physical condition indicates the proper functioning of the lungs, heart and circulatory system. The higher it is, the lower the risk of future heart disease.

In fact, research suggests that the intensity of physical activity may be more important than the total duration for the long-term health of the elderly and older age group.

Achievable for everyone

The main reasons why people are not doing enough exercise tend to include cost, lack of time, skills, and motivation.

Exercise programs such as high intensity interval training are safe and effective ways to improve physical fitness, but they are often impractical. People with chronic diseases and most people of middle and older age, for example, will likely need the supervision of a fitness professional.

In addition to the practical aspects, some people may be confronted with consecutive episodes of very intense, overwhelming and unpleasant efforts.

But there are many free and accessible ways to incorporate a physical activity incidental to our routines, including:

• replace short trips by car with a brisk walk or bike ride it is safe

• climb the stairs at a rapid pace instead of using the elevator

• leaving the car at the edge of the parking lot of the shopping center and doing the shopping on 100 meters

• do three or four "walking sprints" for long periods of time by speeding up your pace from 100 to 200 meters (until you feel your heart rate is rising and you feel out of breath) j & # 39; have trouble speaking)

• vigorous walking at a rate of about 130 to 140 steps per minute

• looking for opportunities to climb ribs

• take your dog to an off-leash area and jog for 30 to 90 seconds along the puppy.

This type of incidental activity can facilitate the achievement of the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity per day. It can also help improve fitness and facilitate intense physical activity, even for those of us who are less fit.

Emmanuel Stamatakis, Professor of Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Population Health, University of Sydney.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.