Researchers looked at nearly 64,000 adults and found those who met the criteria for "active," including weekend warrior types, had 30 percent less risk of death overall than people who exercised less or not at all. OK, so the fact that people who exercise have better health than those who don't isn't exactly shocking information, but what was surprising was that it didn't seem to matter how many days that exercised happened. While many of us have long assumed that daily or consistent workouts give a special boost, apparently when it comes to basic health, bodies don't care as much about consistency as we thought.
So what is this magic "active" number of minutes required to get the basic health benefits? Just 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. You can spread that out over, say, five 30-minute moderate workouts or three 25-minutes intense workouts in a week. Or, according to the study, you can just do one killer workout for 75 minutes on a Saturday and be done with it for the week.
This doesn't mean regular workouts don't have benefits—exercising daily can help you feel less depressed, eat fewer calories, be more creative, focus better, and sleep more soundly that very same day, according to previous research . Rather this new research just means that when it comes to the stuff that will kill you, like heart attacks and cancer, exercise is cumulative, adding up benefits over your lifetime. Of course, this is a general recommendation. How much you need to spend in the gym depends on your health status and fitness goals . Read: If you're looking to get six-pack abs, run a marathon, or run down rolling logs in a lumberjack competition (yeah that's a real thing) you're definitely going to need more consistent workouts. Today:1
