Approved Research

The "burstiness" of physical activity and associations with all-cause mortality.

Lay summary

Physical activity is an important factor for good lifelong health. The total amount of physical activity accumulated per week is associated with a lower risk of premature death and a number of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and some cancers. How people accumulate their total weekly volume of physical activity may alter the relationship with the risk of premature death by any cause. Accumulating physical activity in short bursts followed by long periods of inactivity is qualitatively very different from accumulating the same amount of activity in more sustained bursts evenly spread throughout the day. Existing research has not examined the interaction between the volume of physical activity, how it was accumulated and the risk of premature death.

Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the interaction between the volume of physical activity undertaken and how it was accumulated and the association with the risk of premature death from any causes.

The study will inform the development of future interventions, physical activity guidelines and public health policy.  The project will last from February 2023 to February 2024.