December 15, 2025, 12:08 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
The intensity of physical activity is considered an important but so far vaguely defined health factor. The WHO assumes that one minute of intense exercise is equivalent to two minutes of moderate activity. This assumption has now been put to the test by a study. In the large analysis, tens of thousands of adults were followed over the years. The amount of light, moderate, and intense physical activity they accumulated in everyday life was measured using an accelerometer. The study also examined how these patterns are related to mortality, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
What was investigated? A large prospective study, which follows people over many years, evaluated data from 73,485 adults aged 40 to 79 from the UK Biobank.1 Using wearable motion sensors, it showed how different intensities of physical activity affect the long-term risk of death, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers influenced by exercise. Light, moderate, and intense activities were compared.
Physical activity was continuously recorded over seven days using a wrist-worn accelerometer. The average follow-up period was eight years. The goal was to precisely determine how many minutes of moderate or light activity are needed to achieve the health benefits of one minute of intense exercise.
Intense vs. Moderate or Light Exercise: An Overview
Results: Intense exercise was significantly more effective per minute than moderate or light activity in reducing key health risks:
- For an equivalent reduction in overall mortality: 1 minute of intense exercise equals 4.1 minutes of moderate or 52.6 minutes of light activity
- For the same reduction in the risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases: 1 minute intense = 7.8 minutes moderate = 72.5 minutes light
- For a comparable reduction in major cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, heart failure): 1 minute intense = 5.4 minutes moderate = 86.1 minutes light
- For the same reduction in diabetes risk: 1 minute intense = 9.4 minutes moderate = 94 minutes light
- For an equivalent reduction in the risk of dying from certain cancers: 1 minute intense = 3.5 minutes moderate = 156 minutes light
- For a corresponding reduction in the risk of developing certain cancers: 1 minute intense = 1.6 minutes moderate = 5.1 minutes light
Light activity—such as walking, strolling, housework, or similar daily activities—showed only slight risk reductions. These reductions were mainly in cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The differences between moderate and intense exercise were small for new cancer cases. In contrast, a clear advantage of intense activity was evident in cancer mortality.
Study Could Form the Basis for New Exercise Recommendations
Significance: The WHO recommendation for the ratio between moderate and intense physical activity has so far assumed that one minute of intense exercise is equivalent to two minutes of moderate activity. This study now clearly questions that. In fact, intense exercise is more than four times as effective for overall mortality. It is also eight to nine times as effective for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases compared to moderate exercise. For people with little time, even short but intense exercise sessions can make a noticeable contribution to health prevention.
Although this is an observational study that does not allow causal conclusions and only evaluated movement data collected over a week, it cannot be completely ruled out that some results are distorted because people were already moving less due to undiagnosed diseases, known as reverse causality. Nevertheless, the findings are considered reliable. The findings are supported by precise data collection, the large number of participants, and the long follow-up period. They provide a solid foundation for future exercise recommendations. The interpretation of activity data from fitness trackers and the development of personalized health strategies can also be significantly improved.
Take Opportunities to Engage in Intense Activity in Everyday Life
“The study is encouraging because it shows that even with little time, you can achieve a lot for your health if you engage in intense activity. Although the researchers did not record exact heart rate values, the core idea is to significantly raise your pulse repeatedly. This doesn’t even require a continuous training session. Intense physical activity can accumulate throughout the day. What does this mean in practice? It can already make a big difference to seize small opportunities for short exertion in everyday life. For example, running up the stairs quickly until you’re out of breath. Or incorporating two minutes of jumping jacks in between. Even in longer endurance sessions, short bursts of high intensity can be included.”
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