federal guidelines states that adults in the United States should get at least 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity or 150 minutes of less intense activity each week. But over the past few years, a flurry of research has promoted the benefits of exercise for much less than that.
A study in 2022 found that focusing on just three one-minute bursts of vigorous activity a day can lead to a longer life. another studyalso published in 2022, linking 15 minutes of weekly physical activity to longevity. An article in 2019 It even goes as far as to suggest that just 10 minutes of weekly exercise can help you live longer. These results are astounding — but also seem a bit too good to be true, based on age-old operating principles that recommend 10x more exercise to stay healthy.
“There may be people looking at this and saying, ‘Well, I’m not sure it’s me,’” said Stephen J. Carter, assistant professor of kinesiology at Indiana University’s Bloomington School of Public Health. buy that’. exercise and aging research. “But maybe we should think differently about exercise.”
Any level of exercise is better than inactivity, says Carter, and surprisingly little to benefit your health.
How short bursts of activity benefit your health
Malia Blue, assistant professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says when you put stress on your body through exercise, even for a short time, you trigger physiological changes. Even small amounts of exercise can increase blood flow and improve the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar. Over time, these changes can reduce the risk of conditions like diabetes, heart disease and stroke, Blue says.
When your muscles work, they also release compounds that can improve the health of your organs, says Kevin Murach, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. muscle biology research.
Also, by getting up and moving—even for a minute—you’re disrupting sedentary time, says Blue. Research has shown that Sitting too much is bad for healthand that Replacing almost any amount of sedentary time with movement is beneficial. “There is a kind of double [benefit]: if you break up your sedentary time and increase your physical activity, you’ll see health benefits from both,” says Blue.
People who exercise in hopes of losing weight or training for a specific sporting event may not achieve dramatic results with a few minutes a day. But that doesn’t mean you don’t benefit from those short moves.
“People want instant gratification, and honestly, that just can’t be done with exercise,” says Carter. “You may not look like a YouTuber” leading your workout after the five-minute class, “but you’re doing great for yourself.”
Backing studies: An extensive quote Research review from 2014 demonstrated that cardiovascular fitness was a better predictor of mortality than body mass index. That finding suggests that exercise can benefit your health at any scale. The benefits also extend beyond your physical body, as numerous studies have shown that Exercise is good for mental health.
The benefits can be difficult to quantify
Murach agrees that even a little exercise can improve your health, but he says it’s important to exercise caution when interpreting studies on moderate exercise. Usually, studies only capture a moment in time, not the entire life of the participants, says Murach. Some studies also don’t do a good job of showing whether exercise confers certain health benefits or simply correlates with them.
“I certainly benefit,” says Murach. “But if you exercise for one minute a day, is that a silver bullet to prolong your life?” That’s harder to know for sure, he said.
Another complicating factor is that everyone starts from different baselines. For someone who is completely sedentary, adding a small amount of exercise each week can be quite a dramatic change. But for someone who already exercises infrequently, it may take a few extra minutes to gain additional health.
Intensity and duration matter
Not all exercises are equal. A five-minute most intense sprint will have a different effect on your body than a five-minute leisurely walk.
That’s not to say that light or moderate activity isn’t beneficial. inside London Transport Workers Study, starting in the 1940s, researchers found that train drivers had lower rates of coronary heart disease than drivers, apparently because they had more active jobs . Those results—and numerous studies conducted in the decades since—show that even moderate activity may not be considered traditional “exercise,” such as housework or walk, can have a positive effect.
But the intensity doesn’t matter, especially if you’re only moving for a short time. Compared with more moderate activities, vigorous movements that get the heart pumping, such as running or jumping rope, will trigger more effective physical benefits, says Carter. Two of the strongest life expectancy predictors are related to exercise—grip and aerobic capacity—may improve slightly after a short workout, but it can take longer, more intense bursts of activity to make a significant improvement, says Murach. Major studies have shown that the benefits of exercise increase the more you exercise, so there’s no reason to stop after a few minutes if you have the time and ability to keep going.
The good news is that that activity is mutable and extensible. Your high-intensity workout might be someone else’s light workout—but as long as your heart rate is up and your breathing is a little labored, you’re training your body well, Carter says. speak. You can also build intensity over time, research to show that. Perhaps you start with short walks a few times a day, then build up to more vigorous exercise, doing them for longer periods of time, as you get stronger, Blue says.
The takeaway is that some exercise is always better than none, and each additional exercise adds up.
Murach agrees: “It’s amazing the amount of health benefits you can get from even short bursts of exercise. “It may not be what makes you lose 30 pounds, but it can improve your health to some extent — your physical health as well as your mental health.”
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