Current recommendations from World Health Organization (WHO) experts state that adults between the ages of 18 and 64 should engage in moderate aerobic physical activity for at least 150 to 300 minutes per week , such as brisk walking.
These same professionals point out that this moderate activity can be replaced by intense aerobic physical activity , practiced from 75 to 150 minutes per week, although the ideal would be to combine moderate and intense activities throughout the week.
If we look at those over 64 years of age, the recommendations are the same, although the routines are adapted to their abilities.
In the case of children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years of age, it is recommended that they practice at least 60 minutes a day of moderate to intense physical activities, mainly aerobic.
Until now, it was not clear if increasing the time of physical activity was healthier, or if, on the contrary, the most important thing was the intensity.
However, a recent study has corroborated that, although increasing the time of physical activity at any intensity is beneficial for health, only increasing the intensity would be beneficial for the heart.
Specifically, the study, which has been published in the European Heart Journal, shows that there is a greater reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease when most of the activity is at least of moderate intensity.
What benefits for the heart do the most intense activities bring?
To obtain these results, researchers from the Leicester Biomedical Research Center and various experts from the University of Cambridge analyzed physical activity data measured with a wrist accelerometer in more than 88,000 people.
As explained by Dr. Paddy Dempsey, a researcher at the University of Leicester Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit and the University of Cambridge, the wearable devices helped them “accurately detect and record the intensity and intensity duration of movement of all participants”.
They then conducted an analysis of the wearable devices, finding that moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity provided a greater reduction in the overall risk of death.
Likewise, practicing more vigorous physical activity could also “reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” explains the author of the study.
In order to obtain these findings, the authors investigated the association between the volume and intensity of physical activity and the incidence of cardiovascular disease in 88,412 middle-aged adults, all of whom were free of cardiovascular disease.
Thus, they used a physical activity tracker on their wrist through which they could obtain the total volume of activity, and the percentage of that volume that was achieved through moderate and vigorous intensity activity.
Next, the authors recorded the number of cardiovascular events, including ischemic heart disease or cerebrovascular disease, that occurred among the study participants during a follow-up period of 6.8 years.
Finally, the data concluded that the total volume of physical activity was strongly associated with a decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In addition, obtaining a greater share of the total volume of physical activity through the practice of moderate or vigorous activities was associated with a greater reduction in risk.
It is essential to incorporate moderate or intense activities
Therefore, the data indicates that the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease were observed among study participants who engaged in higher overall levels of physical activity and a higher proportion of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
These findings support the idea that it is essential to incorporate the time recommended by the WHO for physical activity in the routine. In addition, the study ensures that it is also important to increase the intensity of the activities , most of them being moderately intense activities.
