But new research out of Norwegian University of Science and Technology<\/a> suggests you may not need to exercise that much to see health benefits \u2014 that is, if you\u2019re working out hard. Researchers found that just 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week (yes, per week) is good for your health, specifically heart health.<\/p>\n Researchers said it\u2019s best to split the 30 minutes of weekly exercise up across the week for maximum benefit, so 7.5 minutes of vigorous exercise four times a week, for example. Exercise benefits, such as blood pressure and blood sugar control, happen for one to two days after exercise, according to researchers, making it best to exercise several times throughout the week. <\/p>\n According to the study, this high-intensity exercise needs to be heart-pumping and leave you breathless; a low-intensity yoga class or leisurely neighborhood walk<\/a> doesn\u2019t fit the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cHard activity for someone who\u2019s inactive, it feels like a lot and it can be pretty tough,\u201d said Dr. Jason Tso<\/a>, a cardiologist and medical director of the Sports Cardiology Program at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Tso is not affiliated with this study.<\/p>\n Researchers categorized high-intensity exercise as a workout that gets your heart rate to at least 85% of its maximum or movement that you can\u2019t talk through comfortably but does allow you to speak in short sentences. This often includes activities like a spin class, running or singles tennis.<\/p>\n But exactly what gets you to the point of breathlessness depends on your fitness level. For some people, it is a fast trail run, while for others, it\u2019s a slow jog. <\/p>\n \u201cVigorous activity places real demand on the heart,\u201d Dr. Sawalla Guseh<\/a>, the director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program in the Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute, told HuffPost via email. Guseh is not affiliated with this study.<\/p>\n \u201cFor someone who has been inactive, or who has risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking history, symptoms, or a family history of heart disease, it is wise to check in with a clinician before abruptly starting intense exercise,\u201d Guseh added.<\/p>\n Higher-intensity exercise may help you get more \u201cbang for your buck.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, 30 minutes of exercise per week is much less than the 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise that\u2019s recommended in this country\u2019s official guidelines. <\/p>\n The recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week is based on large-scale population studies, according to Tso. But there is a reason the recommended time for vigorous exercise is lower.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s actually been a fair amount of work looking at shorter but very high-intensity exercise showing similar benefit to cardiovascular health,\u201d Tso said. \u201cI think what all this really indicates is that just doing something, even small amounts, gets you a ton of benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor a sedentary person, even small amounts of vigorous activity may improve cardiovascular fitness and cardiovascular risk factors,\u201d added Guseh.<\/p>\n \u201cHigher-intensity exercise is more time efficient in that you do burn more calories, and you probably get more bang for the buck at lower amounts of time,\u201d Tso continued. But high-intensity exercise is challenging and isn\u2019t the right fit for everyone. \u201cSo, there\u2019s some trade-off there,\u201d Tso said.<\/p>\n So, is just a few minutes of vigorous exercise each day enough?<\/p>\n Before you commit to a five-minute daily workout regimen, know that it may not be as beneficial as longer workouts. <\/p>\n \u201cI would not present 30 minutes per week as the final goal. The broader evidence supports a dose-response relationship: More regular physical activity generally provides greater cardiovascular benefit, up to a point,\u201d said Guseh.<\/p>\n According to Tso, \u201cI think it\u2019s better to say five minutes a day of vigorous activity is much better \u2015 immeasurably better \u2015 than nothing. But is that enough? That\u2019s a big question mark.\u201d<\/p>\n More research that compares the benefits of short amounts of high-intensity exercise to the benefits of longer amounts of physical activity is needed. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t anchor on this one study, but it\u2019s good anyway. It just reinforced the concept that everyone should be doing something,\u201d Tso said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be cautious about saying this settles the science,\u201d said Guseh, who pointed out a potential limitation in the research.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who can do vigorous exercise are often healthier and fitter to begin with. They may have fewer symptoms, less unrecognized cardiovascular disease and fewer physical limitations,\u201d Guseh added.<\/p>\n Overall, exercise is \u201cprobably as effective as several medicines.\u201d <\/p>\n Regular exercise<\/a> provides countless health benefits. <\/p>\n \u201cIt changes the heart and the vascular system. It lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, actually increases heart size \u2014 it really allows you to have more energy and be able to function better in daily life,\u201d Tso explained.<\/p>\n It also benefits your mood. Exercise is shown to lower anxiety<\/a> and depression symptoms. Exercise is good for your bone strength, reduces the risk of certain cancers<\/a>, is an important way to maintain muscle and helps you sleep better<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDoctors prescribe medicines all the time, but exercise is probably as effective as several medicines,\u201d Tso said.<\/p>\n Exercise should be part of everyone\u2019s lifestyle, he added. Just because you can\u2019t commit to multiple hours of exercise each week doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t work out at all.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone can stay as active as they can, or try to make some time to stay active,\u201d Tso said.<\/p>\n Lots of people like to focus on doing the \u201cbest\u201d workout for the \u201cmost optimal\u201d amount of time, which can end up being a barrier to exercise. If you only have time for a 10-minute walk today, get out and do it. It\u2019s infinitely better than sitting on your butt. <\/p>\n \u201cFor the general population … just do something and get started and do it regularly, which I think is probably reinforced by this paper,\u201d Tso said.<\/p>\n \u201cThirty minutes is a meaningful starting point, not necessarily the destination,\u201d said Guseh. \u201cStart where you are, build gradually, know your risk and make the goal a sustainable exercise habit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a busy world with work demands, family obligations and seemingly endless to-do lists, it can be hard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,4379,538,137],"class_list":["post-694285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Thirty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6a0f481c16000006bbc194ea.jpeg\")
Thirty minutes of high-intensity exercise each week is shown to have health benefits.<\/p>\n