NO WONDER HOUSEWIVES LIVED FOR EVER:

A study recently published in the journal Nature Medicine reported that short, vigorous bursts of movement not associated with traditional exercise -- the kind you'd get from enthusiastically entering a toddler's game of make-believe, perhaps, or hustling for the bus -- confer significant health benefits.

It's called VILPA -- short for "vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity." And while there are a few significant downsides -- no cute "sport"-specific outfit opportunities; no pickleball-style community; no girls' getaway possibilities -- it seems like the kind of win we all need right now.

Study participants who engaged in just three bouts per day (lasting one or two minutes each) showed a 38 to 40 percent reduction in "all-cause" and cancer mortality risk, and a 48 to 49 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality risk.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 25,000 people in the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database. Each wore accelerometers to measure short bursts of nontraditional exercise -- the type that are hard to capture in questionnaires. Study participants were an average age of around 60, and were nonexercisers, although researchers found similar results when they analyzed data from generally moderate exercisers who managed to also get a small amount of vigorous exercise.

"VILPA is like HIIT" -- high-intensity intermittent training -- "but for the lazy and the late," a friend said when I shared the breakthrough.

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