New research suggests that exercising for up to 610 minutes a week – approximately four times the recommended minimum – could offer “optimal” heart benefits.
This finding challenges the established guideline for adults to undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity weekly, equivalent to two and a half hours of running, cycling, or brisk walking.
Researchers from Macao Polytechnic University in China now suggest optimal heart benefits “may require substantially higher activity volumes.”
However, commentators have warned that advising over an hour and 20 minutes of exercise daily is “not a sensible public health message,” urging adherence to the 150-minute target.
The study analysed data from over 17,000 middle-aged British adults in the UK BioBank.
Researchers focused on cardiorespiratory fitness, measuring participants’ VO2 max – the maximum rate of oxygen the body can absorb and use during intense exercise – assessed via a cycle test.
During this period there were 1,233 so-called cardiovascular events, including heart attacks, diagnosis of an irregular heartbeat, heart failure and strokes.
Researchers concluded that meeting the current physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes each week was linked to lowering a person’s odds by 8% to 9%.
But higher volumes of exercise led to lowering risk even further.
People can reduce their risk of heart events by 30% or more by taking part in 560 to 610 min of moderate to vigorous activity each week, they found.
Researchers also said that people with the lowest level of fitness needed to work harder than those who are very physically active to achieve the same benefits.
“Current moderate-to-vigorous physical activity guidelines provide a universal but modest safety margin, whereas optimal cardiovascular protection may require substantially higher activity volumes,” the authors wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
“Future guidelines and implementation strategies may need to differentiate between the minimal moderate-to-vigorous physical activity volume required for a basic safety margin and the substantially higher volumes necessary for optimal cardiovascular risk reduction.”
Commenting on the study, Aiden Doherty, professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Oxford, said: “We can’t give much weight to the figure of 560-610 minutes of exercise a week.
“Clearly there will be cardiovascular benefit for people who are able to do (more than) 1 hour 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per day but this is not a sensible public health message.
“The public should continue to aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity of physical activity per week; more is better; every move counts.”
In 2011, the UK’s chief medical officers revised guidelines for physical activity.
This included the recommendation that adults should get 150 minutes – or two and a half hours – of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity each week.
People should aim to be active every day and perform muscle-strengthening activities twice a week.
But these guidelines are not met by millions of people.
According to the 2024 Health Survey for England, 27% of adults were classified as inactive, meaning that they took part in less than 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity a week.
The 2021 version of the survey found that 70% of men and 59% of women met the 2011 physical activity targets.
Many studies have found that some exercise is better than none.
Research published in 2025 found that, compared with women who were fairly sedentary, those who achieved 4,000 steps per day on one or two days days a week had a 26% lower risk of death from any cause and a 27% lower heart disease risk.