It is hard to find time to get to the gym. It’s even harder when the gym keeps getting shut down because of Covid-19. Fits and stops stalls motivation and slow us down. But here’s something to think about: just 12 minutes a day of movement. helps you live longer.

Thank you science! You don’t need hours of exercise to live longer. In a recent study conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston and published in Circulation found that 12 minutes bursts of exercise can help you live longer. 

12 minutes of vigorous exercise

The MGH study drew on data from the Framingham Heart Study to measure the levels of 588 circulating metabolites before and immediately after 12 minutes of vigorous exercise in 411 middle-aged men and women impacted more than 80% of circulating metabolites, including pathways linked to a wide range of favorable health outcomes, thus identifying potential mechanisms that could contribute to a better understanding of cardiometabolic benefits of exercise.

“Much is known about the effects of exercise on cardiac, vascular and inflammatory systems of the body, but our study provides a comprehensive look at the metabolic impact of exercise by linking specific metabolic pathways to exercise response variables and long-term health outcomes,” says investigator Gregory Lewis, MD, section head of Heart Failure at MGH and senior author of the study. “What was striking to us was the effects a brief bout of exercise can have on the circulating levels of metabolites that govern such key bodily functions as insulin resistance, oxidative stress, vascular reactivity, inflammation and longevity.”

“We’re starting to better understand the molecular underpinnings of how exercise affects the body and use that knowledge to understand the metabolic architecture around exercise response patterns,” says co-first author Ravi Shah of the Heart Failure and Transplantation Section in the Division of Cardiology at MGH. “This approach has the potential to target people who have high blood pressure or many other metabolic risk factors in response to exercise, and set them on a healthier trajectory early in their lives.”

So what does this mean for you? 

If you take several breaks during the day and get your heart rate up for just 12 minutes, you will lower your risk for issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, stress, and even cancer, so you may live longer. And 12 minutes? You can’t argue with that!

So take a break from the computer and dance around the kitchen, go for a run, or chase the kids around, and maybe you’ll even live longer!