That Health Rules

Good news to those who just dont have the time to exercise.

A new study published online by the BMC, 2009 showed a new way to exercise that will have the same or better impact on our body’s metabolism than previously thought.

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Background

Classic, long duration aerobic exercise reduces cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk but this involves a substantial time commitment. Extremely low volume high-intensity interval training (HIT) has recently been shown to cause similar improvements to aerobic performance, but it has not been established whether HIT has the capacity to improve glycemic control.

Methods

Sixteen young men  performed 2 weeks of supervised HIT comprising of a total of 15 min of exercise (6 sessions; 4-6 x 30-s cycle sprints per session). Aerobic performance (250-kJ self-paced cycling time trial), and glucose, insulin and NEFA responses to a 75-g oral glucose load (oral glucose tolerance test; OGTT) were determined before and after training.

Results

Following 2 weeks of HIT, the area under the plasma glucose, insulin and NEFA concentration-time curves were all reduced (12%, 37%, 26% respectively, all P<0.001). Fasting plasma insulin and glucose concentrations remained unchanged, but there was a trend towards reduced fasting plasma NEFA concentrations post-training (pre: 350 +/- 36 v post: 290 +/- 39 mumol * l-1, P=0.058). Insulin sensitivity as measured by the Cederholm index was improved by 22.5% (P<0.01). Aerobic cycling performance was improved by ~6% (P<0.01).

Conclusions

The efficacy of a high intensity exercise protocol, involving only ~250 kcal work each week, to substantially improve insulin action in young sedentary subjects is remarkable. We feel this novel time-efficient training paradigm can be used as a strategy to reduce metabolic risk factors in young and middle aged sedentary populations who otherwise would not adhere to a classic high volume, time consuming exercise regimens

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In this study short burst of intense exercise activity lasting for like 30 seconds resulted in improvement of parameters that can have an impact in preventing chronic illnesses. 

The subjects used exercise bikes which we can easily buy in sports stores… performed a quick sprint insturcted to do it at their highest possible intensity for around 30 seconds.  The results showing significant improvements in exercise parameters biochemically suggest that any highly vigorous activity carried out in few minutes in a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. 

This is definitely good news to those who just cant find the right time and place to do their exercise workout.  This is one of the first studies to document that short bouts of exercise can be as effective in improving metabolic parameters as the usual recommendations of moderate exercise for 30 minutes most days of the week. 

Now my friends… no more excuses!!!

This entry was posted on February 9, 2009 at 10:29 am and is filed under Exercise and Activity Tips, General Health Tips, Healthy Practice Tips, Lifestyle Measures, Medical News Bits.