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Abstract
Aim To investigate effect of <10 min moderate intensity exercise on cardiovascular function and maximal oxygen consumption (
O2max) among sedentary adults.
Methods We studied 53 sedentary urbanites aged ≥50 years, randomised into: (1) male (MS) and (2) female (FS) undertaking three short-duration exercise (5–10 min) daily, and (3) male (ML) and (4) female (FL) exercising 30–60 min 3–5 days weekly. Resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate and 
O2max were measured at baseline and 8 weekly for 24 weeks.
Results At baseline, 50% MS, 61.5% ML, 53.8% FS and 53.8% FL had SBP ≥120 mm Hg, and 14.3% MS, 53.8% ML, 23.1% FS and 38.5% FL had DBP ≥80 mm Hg. At 24 weeks, where SBP remained ≥120 mm Hg, values decreased from 147±19.2 to 132.3±9.6 mm Hg (50% of MS), from 144±12.3 to 128±7.0 mm Hg (23.1% of ML), from 143.1±9.6 to 128.0±7.0 mm Hg (53.8% of FS) and from 152.3±23.7 to 129±3.7 mm Hg (30.8% of FL). For DBP ≥80 mm Hg, MS and FS percentages maintained, but values decreased from 101±15.6 to 84.5±0.7 mm Hg (MS) and 99.0±3.6 to 87.7±4.9 mm Hg (FS). In ML and FL, percentage with DBP ≥80 mm Hg dropped to 15.4% (86.1±6.5 to 82.5±3.5 mm Hg) and (91.4±5.3 to 83.5±0.71 mm Hg). 
O2max increased from 26.1±4.4 to 32.0±6.2 for MS, from 25.8±5.1 to 28.8±5.4 for ML (group differences p=0.02), from 20.2±1.8 to 22.7±2.0 for FS and from 21.2±1.9 to 24.2±2.7 for FL (groups differences p=0.38).
Conclusion Accumulated moderate intensity exercise bouts of <10 min confer similar-to-better cardiovascular and 
O2max improvements compared with current recommendations among sedentary adults.
- cardiovascular function
- maximal oxygen consumption
- short and long moderate intensity exercise sessions
- sedentary
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Footnotes
Twitter @karaniMaguth
Contributors KM helped in designing protocol, data collection, analysis and writing of the manuscript. Both KT and NT helped with designing of protocol and writing the manuscript.
Funding This research was supported by the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). CARTA is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) and the University of the Witwatersrand and funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK) (Grant No: 087547/Z/08/Z), the Department for International Development (DfID) under the Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE), the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Grant No: B 8606), the Ford Foundation (Grant No: 1100–0399), Google.Org (Grant No: 191994), Sida (Grant No: 54100029), MacArthur Foundation (Grant No: 10-95915-000-INP) and British Council.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, conduct, reporting or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the 'Materials and methods' section for further details.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval Study approval was granted by Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital/Moi University institutional research board.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available on reasonable request.