How Much Exercise Do You Need To Do?

One of those questions that is almost impossible to answer.

Pictured: Exercise. Also, lots of chalk. Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

For most of us who have very busy lives, the question of how much exercise you need to do to stay healthy is extremely important. There are only so many hours in a day. Exercising takes away time from all of those other things that you need to get done, whether that’s picking up your kids from daycare, laundry, or just catching a few minutes of rest in your crazy life.

According to a bunch of headlines, the answer is simple. Just five minutes of exercise a day can reduce your risk of blood pressure! It sounds so easy - trade a few minutes of binge-watching The Rings Of Power or Monsters, The Menendez Brothers Story for running and you’ll improve your health.

Except, the answer is much more complicated than that. The reality is that there is no ideal or optimal amount of exercise to get, no perfect silver bullet against ill health. Doing more exercise is almost always better than less, but ideally you should be doing quite a lot.

Let’s look at the data.

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