A new study found that people who included more vigorous activity in their routines had lower risks of several major diseases.
Researchers tracked more than 96,000 adults using wrist accelerometers to measure both activity volume and intensity.
Even just a few minutes of activity that leaves you slightly out of breath was linked to meaningful health benefits.
When it comes to exercise, most people focus on one thing: how long they’re active. But new research suggests another factor may be just as important — how hard you’re working while you move.
A study published in the European Society of Cardiology’s journal, the European Heart Journal, found that people who regularly included vigorous activity in their daily lives had lower risks of developing several major diseases and a lower overall risk of death.
Researchers say vigorous activity doesn’t necessarily mean training for a marathon or spending hours at the gym. In the study, it referred to movement intense enough to leave someone slightly out of breath. That could include things like climbing stairs quickly, brisk walking, or running to catch a bus.
The findings also suggest that intensity may matter differently depending on the condition. For inflammatory diseases like arthritis and psoriasis, the intensity of exercise appeared especially important. For conditions such as diabetes and liver disease, both the amount of movement and the intensity seemed to play a role.
“Vigorous physical activity appears to trigger specific responses in the body that lower-intensity activity cannot fully replicate,” researcher Minxue Shen said in a news release. “During vigorous physical activity – the kind that makes you feel out of breath – your body responds in powerful ways. Your heart pumps more efficiently, your blood vessels become more flexible, and your body improves its ability to use oxygen.
“Vigorous activity also appears to reduce inflammation. This may help explain why we saw strong associations with inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis and arthritis. It may also stimulate chemicals in the brain that help keep brain cells healthy, which could help explain the lower risk of dementia.
How the study worked
The research team analyzed data from 96,408 adults participating in the U.K. Biobank study. Rather than asking participants to estimate how much they exercised, researchers used wrist-worn accelerometers to objectively track movement over a seven-day period.
That approach allowed scientists to capture not only formal workouts, but also short bursts of movement throughout the day that people might otherwise forget or overlook. Researchers then calculated two things: each person’s total amount of physical activity and the percentage of that activity considered vigorous.
Participants were followed for roughly seven years. During that time, researchers monitored whether they developed any of eight major health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, irregular heartbeat, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory diseases, liver disease, chronic respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease, and dementia. They also tracked deaths from any cause.
The goal was to better understand whether exercise intensity offered benefits beyond simply being active overall. Researchers specifically wanted to know whether two people with similar activity levels might experience different health outcomes depending on how vigorously they exercised.
What researchers found
People who spent a greater share of their activity time doing vigorous movement consistently had lower risks across all eight diseases studied.
Compared with participants who did no vigorous activity, those with the highest proportion of intense movement had a 63% lower risk of dementia, a 60% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and a 46% lower risk of death from any cause.
Importantly, the benefits showed up even when the total amount of vigorous activity was relatively small. Researchers noted that as little as 15 to 20 minutes of vigorous movement spread throughout a week was associated with measurable health benefits.
“Our findings suggest that making some of your physical activity vigorous can provide substantial health benefits,” Professor Shen said. “This doesn't require going to the gym. Adding short bursts of activity that make you slightly breathless into daily life, like taking the stairs quickly, walking fast between errands or playing actively with children, can make a real difference.”
The authors say vigorous exercise may trigger biological responses that lighter activity does not fully produce, including improved cardiovascular function, better oxygen use, and lower inflammation levels.
At the same time, researchers cautioned that vigorous activity may not be appropriate for everyone, particularly older adults or people with certain medical conditions. They emphasized that any increase in movement can still be beneficial and that exercise should be tailored to the individual.