The general guideline for healthy physical activity is 30 minutes a day for five days a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Is this enough exercise to maintain general physical health?
What should you do if you don’t have time in your schedule to work out for 30 minutes a day?
Experts recommend 30 minutes a day for maintenance.
Most health officials recommend 30 minutes a day for five days a week, or a total of 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity a week, to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- “For longevity, 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity clearly is enough,” Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told The New York Times.
- The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise weekly — such as fast walking, jogging or biking.
- Along with aerobic exercise, the Mayo Clinic said that two or more days a week of muscle training exercises of each muscle group are good for physical health.
What if I don’t have time to work out daily? “We know 150 minutes of physical activity each week sounds like a lot, but you don’t have to do it all at once,” said the CDC.
- The CDC said that as long as you get 150 minutes in, you can spread out the activity in any way that fits your schedule, whether that's shorter workouts several times a day, or a few long workouts.
- “It doesn’t matter whether exercise is done in a long, continuous 30-minute session or is dispersed across the day in shorter sessions,” said Emmanuel Stamatakis, an exercise scientist at the University of Sydney in Australia, per The New York Times.
- Even if you can’t incorporate 30 minutes of physical activity into your day, “some physical exercise is better than none,” reports the CDC.
- “Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity gain some health benefits,” according to the CDC.
Is 30 minutes enough for weight loss? Reports suggest 150 minutes a week is good for maintaining weight, but losing weight or training requires more activity.
- “To provide even greater health benefit and to assist with weight loss or maintaining weight loss, at least 300 minutes a week is recommended,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
- Dr. Lee also told The New York Times that “the more active we are, well beyond 30 minutes a day, the more our risks of chronic diseases drop and the longer our lives may be.”