Getting a body to die for is mass of hard work. But what counts as a “good amount” of exercise? Twenty minutes a day? An hour at the gym, three times a week? Science has proven and it turns out that a “good amount” is a lot less than you think.

More exercise is obviously better for your body then less exercise ( providing you didn’t get any injuries while exercising). Research in Canada decided to check the minimal amount of exercise but still benefiting your health. Two groups of people, middle-aged people and out of shape (but generally healthy) men and women, and a group of middle-aged people who had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.

The training was very, very short: one minute of pedaling at 90% of maximum effort ( measures by getting your heart rate up to 220 beats per minute minus you age). Followed by one minute of easy pedaling, repeated 10 times. This 20 total minutes of exercise was done twice a week, that was it.

After few weeks of this routine, everyone in the study (especially the cardiac patients) showed “ significant improvement.” Their bodies produced lots more cellular proteins involved in energy production and oxygen, improved their insulin sensitivity and blood sugar retention, lowering risk of Type 2 diabetes.

For the record, the American Heart Association has been recommending 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise five times a week, for a total of two and a half hours of weekly misery. But this research suggests that it may not be necessary to spend every weekday at the gym, as long as you're clever about what kind of exercise you're getting. There's nothing wrong with getting more exercise, and it's definitely good for you, but if you're short on time (or willpower) it now seems that you can still get some significant health benefits with just 20 minutes per week of actual hard work.

--MD

--NYTIMES