Want to get healthy? Exercise 7 minutes a week

Friday, January 30th, 2009

People still seem to associate exercise volume with health and fitness, when it really takes surprisingly little time in the gym — or outside — to get fit. Want to get healthy? Exercise 7 minutes a week:

Timmons and his team showed that just seven minutes of exercise each week helped a group of 16 men in their early twenties control their insulin.

The volunteers, who were relatively out of shape but otherwise healthy, rode an exercise bike four times daily in 30 second spurts two days a week.

After two weeks, the young men had a 23 percent improvement in how effectively their body used insulin to clear glucose, or blood sugar, from the blood stream, Timmons said.

The effect appears to last up to 10 days after the last round of exercise, he added in a telephone interview.

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