The Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity: Women Integrating Short Intense Movement Efforts (VILPA WISE) Project is a 3-year research project aimed at developing, refining, and testing mhealth app integrating VILPA activities in everyday life for preventing cardiovascular disease in physically inactive women aged 40–65.
Funded by the Danish Heart Foundation and Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen and led by the Danish Center for Motivation and Behaviour Science (DRIVEN) at the University of Southern Denmark, the project aims to promote short bursts of intense activity embedded in daily life such as taking the stairs actively, or playing energetically with children, cleaning energetically etc). It is about doing everyday activity – just a little more intensely, until one is slightly out of breath.
More than half of Danish women fail to meet recommend activity levels making them vulnerable to many cardiovascular diseases. This physical inactivity may come to various barriers to regular physical activity due to time, health, family and work responsibilities. Though physical activity is good for health – but it’s not always easy knowing what to do.
- VILPA can be for people with limited time or for those who do not like structured exercise.
- VILPA can be done at home, work, while commuting, or while doing chores.
Recent evidence has shown that incorporating 9-10 short bouts of vigorous movement up to 1 minute into everyday life improves health and has cardio-protective benefits.
The project in Danish is called VILPA Hverdagspulstoppe.
The project has three phases:
- Phase I – Development: Through co-design workshops and contextual focus groups, physically inactive women help create a tailored mHealth app that fits their needs, daily routines, and motivations for incorporating VILPA.
- Phase II – Refinement: The app undergoes iterative testing and development using behavior change frameworks and wearable tech integration, including user feedback from alpha and beta testing to optimize usability and engagement.
- Phase III – Field Testing: A pilot randomized controlled trial involving 150 women evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact of the VILPA intervention on physical activity behavior and health indicators.
By combining behavioral science, digital tools, and user-centered design, VILPA WISE project seeks to make heart-healthy activity more accessible and sustainable for women in everyday life.
