Just 15 Minutes of Daily Exercise Can Transform Your Health, Says New Study
We’ve explored exercise snacks and 'hypertrophy snacks' before, but new research reveals that just 15 minutes of daily exercise can boost your fitness, energy, sleep, and mood – without hours in the gym. Published in Healthcare, this study shows that even brief workouts can yield significant health benefits.
Analysing data from 11,575 participants worldwide, researchers at the University of South Australia found that the '15 Minute Challenge' wellness program led to 36% of participants meeting exercise guidelines and 59% exceeding them. Over the 6-week study, participants increased their average daily exercise by 12 minutes, totalling 85 minutes per week
Participants also reported:
A 14% improvement in fitness
A 12% improvement in energy levels
An 8% increase in overall health
An 8% increase in sleep quality
A 7.1% improvement in mood
According to lead researcher, Dr Ben Singh believes the '15 Minute Challenge' could be an efficient way of improving workers' wellbeing and health. 'Regular physical activity provides significant physical and mental health benefits. It plays a key role in preventing and managing chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, and it also reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety,' says Dr Singh speaking to ScienceDaily.
Dr Singh continued, 'In this study we showed that as little as 15 minutes of physical activity per day can make a big difference when it comes to people's health and wellbeing. And while the program only required 15 minutes of activity, most people tended to do more.'
The researcher concluded that the 15 minutes serves as an accessible starting point, especially for people who are particularly sedentary. 'Ultimately, the 15-minutes is a catalyst for increased physical activity, with many participants ending up exceeding the minimum goal and moving closer to or surpassing national recommendations,' says Dr Singh.
Other evidence indicates that short duration exercise can lead to improved adherence and habit forming behaviour change. Some research even suggests that just one minute of vigorous exercise could be enough to see health and cardiovascular improvements, further emphasising that participating in movement, no matter how short in duration, is far superior to prolonged sedentary behaviour.
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