Study Reveals 10 Minutes Makes A Difference In Life
It has been known for decades that exercising is one of the vital help factors in humans living a longer and healthier life. One aspect that experts have disagreed on, however, is just how much exercise needs to be put in play on a weekly basis for the benefits to be enjoyed.
While it remains true that more is usually better in regards to exercise, a British journal recently published a story that just 10 minutes of exercise a week is linked to a longer and more fruitful life.
This seems like it can’t be real on a number of levels. The federal physical activity guidelines, for example, state that 75 minutes of vigorous exercise or 150 minutes of moderate exercise are needed for any benefits to be felt. That is far more than the 10 minutes recommended by this survey, an amount of time that is shorter than one regular scene in Game of Thrones.
So can this level of exercise really be beneficial? Can it provide vital help to your body’s systems? Will just 10 minutes of exercise be enough to help you live your life in a better way?
This study focused on an initial pool of 88,000 American adults who were between the ages of 40 and 85. They were tracked by researchers for nine years during which time information was collected on the amount that each exercised. That data was then correlated with any physical ailments that the subjects contracted to see how exercise affected life.
While the big takeaway will be that ANY exercise increases longevity, it is just as important to note here that the reduction in risk factors increased greatly the MORE a person exercised. It is not news that exercising more reduces the risk factors of heart disease and general cardiovascular health, and as we get older the need to exercise to prevent these issues increases dramatically.
What this study does is give a great laughing point for people who need the vital help of exercise but who find some of the guidelines and expectations to be too much for them. An adult hitting the gym three times a week and playing sports on the other days isn’t suddenly going to just drop to this 10 minutes of exercise per week – no one is wired that way.
Instead this is great information to share with perhaps a grandparent or family friend who just doesn’t see the benefits of exercise. To that person, perhaps something as simple as walking around the block two or three times a week would be a gateway to a more exercise driven life.
The more we learn about exercise and how it helps ward of diseases, the more we need to encourage everyone in our lives to work out. Be that vital mentor, give that vital guidance, and get everyone you know exercising for at least 10 minutes a week. Their desire to be healthy will only grow from there.