2. Improve mood and thinking as well as your health.
Short sessions of physical activity also benefit brain function, says Dr. Basso, a neuroscientist and dancer. Moving your body increases blood flow to the brain and modulates levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. It also stimulates the release of growth factors that, over time, help sprout new brain cells.
And movement has near-immediate perks. In a recent Japanese study, running for just 10 minutes improved participant’s moods and reaction times on a color-word matching test. Brain imaging showed increased activity in prefrontal cortex areas that control executive functions such as attention, planning, and working memory.
So if you’re feeling low, stressed, or stuck on a tough problem at work, try a 10-minute break for moderate movement. In this case, don’t go all-out – tougher workouts still benefit your brain over time, but the immediate stress response may temporarily cloud your thinking, Dr. Basso says.
Instead, level up by adding another brain-boosting element like social connection or rhythmic music. Walk with a friend, for instance, or fire up a playlist and dance.
3. Gain fitness through brief, hard bursts.
The government’s exercise guidelines acknowledge the harder you work, the faster you reap rewards. Choosing more vigorous activities – where you›re breathing so hard you can only gasp a few words – halves the minimum requirement to 75 minutes weekly.
Plus, intensity brings added fitness gains, Mr. Wall says. This includes getting better at sport-specific skills and building anaerobic endurance, or the ability to work harder for longer periods of time.
However, the short, hard approach has its challenges. It’s often tricky to replicate lab-based protocols in the real world (Dr. Coyle’s cycling experiments, for example, use specialized bikes). Warming up first can add time; stair-climbing study participants began with 10 jumping jacks, 10 air squats, and five lunges on each leg.
Finally, pushing hard is uncomfortable. Doing it daily puts you at risk of overtraining or injury, Mr. Wall says. Even Dr. Coyle himself alternates 3 days per week of 4-second training with 45-minute steady rides, where he can watch Netflix.
Longer sessions bring more pronounced improvements in health markers like blood pressure and resting heart rate, Mr. Wall says. And while any movement is better than none, mixing up everything from modality to length and intensity likely provides the biggest bounty of benefits.
Consider these physical activity ideas “ingredients,” Mr. Wall says. “We all eat vegetables, but some of us like bell peppers more than carrots and tomatoes. We all need to get our five fruits and vegetables a day – but how we mix it up, there’s a lot of variation there. Movement works the same way.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.