One Minute of Running a Day Could Improve Bone Health
Spending 1 to 2 minutes performing a high-intensity exercise each day was associated with better bone health among pre- and post-menopausal women, according to a recent study.
The study included 1218 pre-menopausal healthy women and 1316 post-menopausal healthy women. Participants wore accelerometry-based activity monitors which tracked their habitual physical activity for 7 days. Bone mineral density T-score (BMDT), speed of sound (SOS) and broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) were used to assess bone health in all participants, and were analyzed in relation to time spent above the intensity thresholds specific to bone health [≥750 milli-gravitational units (mg) and ≥1000 mg].
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In pre-menopausal women, spending 1 to 2 minutes or more per day at intensities of 1000 mg or less was positively associated with BMDT-score, SOS, and BUA compared with those who spent less than 1 minute at that intensity.
One to 2 minutes or more per day spent at intensities of 750 mg or greater in post-menopausal women was positively associated with BMDT-score, SOS, and BUA compared with those who spent less than 1 minute at that intensity.
“Brief bursts of high-intensity [physical activity] relevant to bone health can be captured by applying bone-specific thresholds of intensity to raw tri-axial accelerations averaged over 1-second epochs,” the researchers concluded. “Accumulating 1–2 minutes/day of high-intensity PA, equivalent to running in pre-menopausal women and slow jogging in post-menopausal women, is associated with better bone health.”
—Melissa Weiss
Reference:
Stile VH, Metcalf BS, Knapp KM, Rowlands AV. A small amount of precisely measured high-intensity habitual physical activity predicts bone health in pre- and post-menopausal women in UK Biobank [published June 29, 2017]. Int J Epidemiol. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyx080.