The Cumulative Effect of Exercise
Short on time? Can’t get to the gym? Believe or not, accumulated short bouts of exercise dispersed throughout the day have a beneficial effect on reducing obesity, improving cardiovascular health as well as a decrease in blood pressure, lipids and insulin among adults.
Recent studies have shown that favorable changes in body mass and LDL cholesterol are more significant following an accumulation condition versus a single bout of exercise in one day (published online by the National Library of Medicine; July 2, 2019) In a total of 19 studies involving 1080 participants, they discovered that there is NO difference between accumulated and continuous exercise in these groups for any cardiorespiratory or blood pressure outcomes.
So, it goes without saying, that regular physical activity has numerous benefits for your health, whether it is a continuous bout of physical activity or an accumulation of multiple short bouts of exercise dispersed throughout the day.
Accumulated exercise can have several health benefits including :
Cardiorespiratory health - for example, performing aerobic exercise in (3) ten -minute bouts throughout the day can add up to 30 minutes.
Reduction in body mass - accumulating aerobic exercise in shorter bouts throughout the day can be more tolerable for people when trying to achieve an exercise goal of 150 minutes or more per week.
Regulation of blood pressure - Short bouts of exercise spread throughout the day can be more effective at increasing cerebral blood supply and regulating blood pressure. According to another study by the National Institute of Health (dated September 2006), the accumulation of exercise was recommended for the treatment of prehypertension. Results demonstrated that 21 prehypertensive adults saw a reduction in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure after accumulated physical activity (4 X 10-minute walks at a moderate pace.) The Systolic BP was reduced for 11 hours and the diastolic BP decreased for 10 hours after accumulated physical activity.
Exercise compliance - Accumulating multiple bouts of exercise throughout the day can assist people in overcoming the obstacle of “lack of time” and keeping up their motivation.
Research was also conducted by the European Heart Journal in 2022 using a larger sample size, 72,000 adults with the average age of 62 who were apparently healthy and free of cardiovascular disease or cancer. According to the study published online October 27, 2022, the participants wore wrist activity trackers for a week. These trackers measured overall activity, vigorous activity and frequency of vigorous activity spanning more than two minutes. Following seven years, the risk for heart disease, cancer and even death dropped. Even accumulating several short bouts of vigorous exercise lasting two minutes or more at different times of the day can prove to be beneficial.
The bottom line here is every little minute counts when you engage in physical activity. NO MORE EXCUSES! Pick times during the day to exercise and accumulate the health benefits from short bouts of physical activity all throughout the day .
