Doing 3 minutes of a key exercise beats 90 minutes of cardio: study

Got three minutes? That’s enough time to boost your health on a molecular level.

Most adults don’t get enough exercise. Official recommendations call for 75 to 150 minutes of physical exercise a week, which can feel impossible when you’re juggling work, family and everything else.

But experts agree: any exercise is better than nothing. And new research shows that a short burst of activity can flood the blood with helpful proteins linked to heart health and protection against obesity and diabetes.

Sprint interval exercise can be done biking, running, rowing, stair climbing or using other movements. New Africa – stock.adobe.com

Researchers examined a workout called sprint interval exercise (SIE), which involves short bursts of all-out effort followed by recovery periods. They studied cycling, but the sprints can also be done running, rowing, stair climbing and with body-weight exercises like squat jumps.

Participants cycled for 30 seconds, going “all-out,” or as hard as they could. Then, they received four minutes of recovery time before repeating the process, for a total of six rounds.

That’s only three minutes of actual work.

Get your heart pumping

How does a three-minute sprint beat a 90-minute session?

Researchers found that sprinting caused widespread changes in the blood immediately after exercise. About 25% of the measured proteins changed. Specifically, they saw a surge in proteins associated with blood-vessel growth, tissue remodeling and hormonal signaling.

Many of these proteins were associated with a lower risk of heart and metabolic disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. Almost all — 32 of 33 — proteins associated with lower metabolic disease risk were altered by sprinting.

The study looked at cycling in a sprint format workout. Halfpoint – stock.adobe.com

Comparatively, moderate exercise barely changed the proteins in blood immediately after the workout, with less than 1% showing a difference. Beneficial proteins did appear later, but it took three hours.

Only three of the 33 proteins associated with lower metabolic disease risk were found to be altered after moderate exercise.

The reason there’s such a big difference between sprint and moderate exercise may come down to a cell-signaling process called ectodomain shedding, researchers say

This is when proteins already sitting on the outside of a cell are released into the bloodstream, rather than having to be made and released.

Researchers believe sprints free these waiting proteins, which then tell other cells how to fuel themselves, respond to hormones and sense proteins — enhancing body function and keeping you healthy.

How often should you sprint?

Separate research suggests that just one high-intensity workout a week is enough to protect the heart and reduce body fat. That’s a promising sign for “weekend warriors” who don’t manage intense workouts during the week.

“Instead of relying solely on high-frequency exercise prescriptions, once-weekly interval training can be considered a feasible and effective alternative,” author Parco Siu Ming-fai said.

The research suggests that this approach could even lower the risk of more than 200 diseases.

If you hate intense bursts of exercise, opt for a slow one for a brain boost. Research shows that walking very slowly — 2mph to 4 mph — helped with mood, cognitive control and processing in just 10 minutes.