Latest research: These 3 types of physical activities not only fail to improve health, but may also harm the body!

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. Currently, about 250 million adults in China suffer from hypertension. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and explore more modifiable risk factors that affect the risk of hypertension and to achieve active and early prevention of hypertension .

Physical activity is a modifiable lifestyle factor, which includes four categories: transportation, housework, occupation and leisure physical activity. Previous studies have shown that leisure physical activity helps reduce the risk of hypertension. However, in most developing countries, including China, the proportion of the population participating in leisure physical activity is very low (less than 10%) . In comparison, transportation, housework and occupation are the main sources of their energy consumption. It is worth noting that these three types of physical activities are very different from leisure physical activities. For example, leisure physical activities are mainly rhythmic, high-intensity dynamic movements of large muscle groups of the body, while housework and occupational physical activities are mainly intermittent, non-rhythmic, low-intensity monotonous repetitive movements of small muscle groups of the upper body, and often last for a long time. Therefore, we speculate that excessive amounts of these three types of physical activities not only fail to improve health, but may even cause harm . However, to date, no study has systematically evaluated the association between the intensity and duration of these three types of physical activities and the risk of hypertension.

Based on the above background, the School of Public Health of Anhui Medical University, Anhui Biomedical Research Institute and National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Diseases of Nanfang Hospital jointly conducted a series of studies, which were published in Hypertension (first author: Li Qinqin), Hypertension Research (first author: Li Rui) and American Journal of Medicine (first author: Li Rui). The study showed that there is an optimal activity level for all three types of physical activity, and too high or too low will increase the risk of hypertension.

This series of studies based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey Project included approximately 9,000 adult participants without hypertension at baseline. Information on different types of physical activity (leisure, housework, transportation, and occupational physical activity) was obtained through questionnaires. Various levels of physical activity were assessed by the product of physical activity intensity (MET, metabolic equivalent) and duration (hours, hours; minutes) metabolic equivalent-hours or metabolic equivalent-minutes (MET-hours or MET-minutes). New-onset hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg or diagnosed with hypertension by a doctor or taking antihypertensive drugs.

After about 8 years of follow-up, about 2,900 participants developed hypertension. We found that the effects of occupational, transportation, and housework physical activity levels on new hypertension are independent of each other, and there is an optimal range for each. The specific research results are as follows:

1. Occupational physical activity

Overall, the relationship between the level of physical activity at work and the risk of hypertension was L-shaped in male participants (Figure 1A), and U-shaped in female participants (Figure 1B). The population was divided into 4 groups according to the weekly metabolic equivalent-hours (<80, 80-<160, 160-<240, ≥240 metabolic equivalent-hours/week). Among men, only participants with weekly metabolic equivalent-hours <80 had a significantly increased risk of hypertension; but among women, the risk of hypertension was lowest when the weekly metabolic equivalent-hours were 80-240, that is, the risk of hypertension was significantly increased when the weekly metabolic equivalent-hours were <80 and ≥240 hours.

Figure 1. Figure 1. Relationship between occupational physical activity and new-onset hypertension in men (A) and women (B).

The picture comes from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author

2. Transportation physical activity

Overall, traffic physical activity and the risk of new-onset hypertension showed a "U"-shaped association (Figure 2). The most suitable level of traffic physical activity per week is 213-394 metabolic equivalents-minutes. Too high or too low levels of traffic physical activity will significantly increase the risk of new-onset hypertension. In addition, 3 different types of traffic physical activities-walking, cycling, and taking mechanical transportation-all showed a similar U-shaped association with new-onset hypertension.

Figure 2. Relationship between traffic-related physical activity and new-onset hypertension

The picture comes from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author

3. Housework and physical activity

Overall, there was an inverse J-shaped association between the level of housework physical activity and new-onset hypertension in both men (Figure 3A) and women (Figure 3B). Taking moderate housework activities (30-90 metabolic equivalent-hours) per week as the reference group, among men, the risk of new-onset hypertension in the groups with housework activities of <10, 10-30, and ≥90 metabolic equivalent-hours per week increased by 2.15 times, 1.28 times, and 1.30 times, respectively; among women, the risk of new-onset hypertension in the groups with housework activities of <10, 10-30, and ≥90 metabolic equivalent-hours per week increased by 4.88 times, 2.05 times, and 1.39 times, respectively. This study encourages the Chinese population, both men and women, to engage in housework moderately, and on the other hand, to avoid excessive housework.

Figure 3. Relationship between Household Physical Activity and New-onset Hypertension in Men (A) and Women (B).

The picture comes from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author

" Prevention is the most economical and effective health strategy ." Under the influence of multiple factors such as lifestyle habits, nature of work, and life pressure, optimizing physical activity levels by simply adjusting leisure exercise methods has certain limitations in promotion. Our series of studies suggest that in the context of occupational, housework, and transportation physical activities being the main forms of physical activity for most Chinese people, it is necessary to recommend the public to optimize these three types of physical activity levels through public health policies or relevant health guidelines and recommendations, on the one hand to avoid the health hazards they bring, and more importantly, when these three types of physical activities are maintained at appropriate levels, they can also bring significant health benefits.

References:

[1] Li Q, Li R, Zhang S, Zhang Y, He P, Zhang Z, Liu M, Zhou C, Li H, Liu C, Qin X. Occupational Physical Activity and New-Onset Hypertension: A Nationwide Cohort Study in China. Hypertension . 2021 Jul;78(1):220-229.

[2] Li R, Zhang S, Li Q, Meng Q, Zu C, Zhang Y, He P, Liu M, Zhou C, Ye Z, Wu Q, Yang S, Zhang Y, Liu C, Qin X. Transportation physical activity and new-onset hypertension: A nationwide cohort study in China. Hypertension Research. 2022 Sep;45(9):1430-1440.

[3] Li R, Li Q, Zhang S, Zhang Y, He P, Zhang Z, Liu M, Zhou C, Ye Z, Wu Q, Yang S, Zhang Y, Li H, Liu C, Qin X. Domestic Physical Activity and New-Onset Hypertension: A Nationwide Cohort Study in China. American Journal of Medicine . 2022 Nov;135(11):1362-1370.e6.

Editor | Li Rui, Li Qinqin, Liu Chengzhang, Huang Yu

Audit | Qin Xianhui

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