Moderate Physical Activity Too Helps Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Walking to the photocopier or even drumming on your desk restlessly could make you healthier, it seems. incidental physical activities (IPA) can contribute to cardio-respiratory fitness, say Canadian researchers. A cumulative 30-minute increase in moderate physical activity throughout the day offers significant benefits, they found.

Ashlee McGuire, the study's lead researcher and a graduate student in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, and fellow researcher, Professor Robert Ross, define IPA as non-purposeful physical activity accrued through activities of daily living, such as doing housework, climbing stairs or walking around the office.

"It's encouraging to know that if we just increase our incidental activity slightly-a little bit more work around the house, or walking down the hall to speak with a co-worker as opposed to sending an email-we can really benefit our health in the long-term," says McGuire. "Best of all, these activities don't take up a lot of time, they're not difficult to do, and you don't have to go to a gym."

Since a large proportion of the Canadian population doesn't participate in a more structured, higher intensity exercise regime, Ms McGuire and Dr. Ross wanted to find out whether the time and intensity of incidental physical activity had any impact on cardio-respiratory fitness.

None of the study's participants met Canada's physical activity guidelines and were engaging solely in incidental physical activity. Activity levels were gauged using an accelerometer, which measures the duration and intensity of movement. Participants wore the accelerometer for a week and also took part in a test to measure their cardiorespiratory fitness.

These findings were recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.



Source: Medindia