Short intense exercise may benefit your body

A new study suggests that you may not need to spend hours exercising every day to support your health.  Even a few minutes of very intense physical activity can cause important changes inside the body.

Researchers found that intense exercise can quickly change hundreds of proteins in the blood These proteins are linked to heart health metabolism body fat and other important body functions.

What did the study find?

The researchers compared short high-intensity cycling with cycling at a normal pace.  Participants completed several 30-second bursts of very fast cycling with about four minutes of rest between each burst.

After the intense exercise changes were found in 714 blood proteins. In comparison only 7 proteins showed similar changes after normal paced cycling. This suggests that exercise intensity can strongly affect how the body responds.

What happens during intense exercise?

During hard exercise the body produces different chemical signals.  One of them is called Lac-Phe, which has been linked to appetite energy use and other body processes.

These signals may also affect metabolism and how fat cells work. Some of the protein changes seen in the study were connected to processes related to heart disease type 2 diabetes and obesity. Researchers also examined data from more than 53,000 people.

Some of the proteins affected by intense exercise were linked to healthy aging heart health and the risk of metabolic diseases.

Is a few minutes of exercise enough?

The findings do not mean that three minutes of intense exercise can completely replace a longer workout.  Different types of exercise provide different benefits.

Longer moderate exercise can still be important for improving endurance muscle strength and heart and lung health.

However the study shows that even short periods of intense activity may have meaningful effects on the body. For people with busy schedules adding brief bursts of physical activity to their daily routine could be a practical option.

However high intensity exercise is not suitable for everyone. People who have not exercised for a long time or have a medical condition should speak with a healthcare professional before starting intense workouts.