Even Short Bursts Of Exercise Can Reduce Your Risk Of Disease And Death

Here's what I think is great news folks !

A new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health could change what we think about exercise.

Long story short: Some is better than none -- and any is linked to curtailing premature death.

The new study found that the length of each "bout" or episode of exercise is unrelated to the benefit seen in living longer. Five minutes of jogging, researchers said, “counts” toward better health.

The old benchmark of 150 minutes per week of moderate activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, originated in 1995. The “rules?” Each time you exercise, it should be for at least 10 minutes.

The study had researchers follow almost 5,000 people over the age of 40 for more than six years. They considered the people in two groups: Those who had bouts of exercise approximately five minutes in length, and those whose exercise lasted more than 10 minutes.

Getting about 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity cut the risk of death over the time period by half, while getting about 100 minutes per day cut the risk to approximately 75 percent -- and it was the total time moving, not the length of exercise, that mattered.

The editorial warned that this study didn’t discriminate between intentional exercise sets such as going for a brisk walk and unintentional physical activity, such as walking around the house doing chores or walking up a flight of stairs.