Intense Exercise to Help Inactive Women Prevent Cardiovascular Diseases

By Marianne Lie Becker, mlbecker@health.sdu.dk, 9/5/2024

Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Professor of Physical Activity and Health Behaviour, has been involved in the development of VILPA, which stands for Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity. The idea is to incorporate high-intensity activity into everyday life by engaging in short bursts of vigorous movement, such as taking the stairs, walking faster on the way to various destinations, or playing energetically with children or grandchildren.

With a grant from the Danish Heart Foundation, VILPA will now be made available through an app, which will hopefully help to prevent cardiovascular diseases among women. The target group is women aged 45-60 who are not physically active in their daily lives.

The Project's Target Group and the Benefits of VILPA

According to Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani, the VILPA project is a response to the worrying trend that less than half of Danish adults meet the World Health Organization's guidelines for physical activity.

-Women are particularly at risk, with generally higher levels of physical inactivity compared to men. There can be many reasons for this, but one important factor is that women often feel they lack time, especially because they frequently take on the bulk of household chores.

With a focus on this target group, researchers have developed VILPA, which involves short, intense activities such as brisk walking or energetic play, integrated into daily chores.

Previous research shows that women who engage in VILPA three times a day reduce their risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases by 49%.

Development and Testing of the App

-We hope that this project can provide a foundation for the systematic use of VILPA to promote physical activity among middle-aged women, says Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani.

She and her colleagues in the DRIVEN research group at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, along with partners from the University of Sydney (Australia) and Victoria University (Canada), will develop a mobile app in collaboration with user groups to make it easy for women to incorporate VILPA into their daily routines.

The digital solution will be tested and refined through a series of workshops and a pilot study involving women from the target group.

The project is planned to span over three years and will involve both the development and testing of the digital intervention, which could potentially be extended to other population groups and complement existing national health campaigns.