Taking the stairs or running late for the bus could help save your life.
A large study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, has found that short bursts of vigorous exercise repeated throughout the day can reduce your risk of dying by 40%.
The study is the first of its kind to look at activity we do without realising it, called vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity. It includes things like briskly taking the stairs, carrying the shopping, gardening, and playing with your children or pets.
Researchers in the UK put wrist trackers on 25,241 people who don’t exercise and followed up with them seven years later.
They found that those that did short bursts of daily activity (1-2 minutes, three times a day) significantly reduced the risk of dying.
There was a 40% drop in the number of all-cause and cancer deaths and a 49% reduction in cardiovascular disease deaths, such as heart attacks and strokes.
The report's author, Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, says "once we start getting out of breath and feel the heart rate going a bit higher, the effects are comparable with meeting the full physical activity recommendation".
"We've always known that intense activity is really useful, but we didn't know it was this little," Exercise NZ's Richard Beddie said.
"For people who are saying 'I don't have enough time to exercise', this is really the answer to that."
He warns that the results of the study is not an excuse to reduce exercise for those who meet the recommended 2.5 hours of activity a week, but says it’s a good incentive for others to start moving.
"It's saying anything with intensity helps, and we're talking about 40% reduction in death. It's phenomenal."
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