Investing just 3% of your time each day in exercise can help you live a longer, healthier life, a physiologist told Business Insider.
Nathan K. LeBrasseur, director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic, researches healthy aging. it said that “the greatest threats to human health today are lifestyle-related conditions” such as cardiovascular and lung disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
Such lifestyle-related conditions account for almost three-quarters of deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization – 17 million of which occur before the age of 70.
Dedicating some time to a healthy, active lifestyle when you’re young can help prevent or delay these conditions, LeBrasseur said.
Some may be disappointed that there is no secret to healthy aging, no matter how much money “biohackers” throw at the problem. But LeBrasseur said it “really has to be seen as an incredible opportunity for you to have such control over your health and well-being.”
He shared the smartest way to invest your time to stay healthy.
Spend 3% of your day exercising
Investing 3% of your income sounds like a “financial minimum
investment,” said LeBrasseur.
Similarly, investing just 3% of your day in exercise is “a minimal investment to have a profound impact on our overall health,” he said.
Spending just 3% of the day exercising can have huge health benefits, a physio has said. Nitat Termmee/Getty Images
That works out to about 30 minutes of a typical 16-hour day that should be spent doing moderate to vigorous exercise, he said.
Moderate exercise should make you feel “on the brink of breathlessness,” he said, or is a five or six out of 10 in terms of effort. Meanwhile, vigorous exercise is more like an eight or nine out of 10 and should make you actively tired.
Depending on your fitness level, this may include walking, lifting weights, running, cycling or swimming.
The type of exercise matters
LeBrasseur recommended a mix of resistance and aerobic exercise—aerobic for cardiovascular, brain, metabolic, and pulmonary health—as well as resistance to maintain physical function and prevent frailty in old age.
A 2022 study showed that performing resistance training and aerobic exercise appeared to reduce participants’ risk of dying from any cause by 32%.
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a good “two-fer,” LeBrasseur said, because it contains both resistance and aerobic exercise. With HIIT, “you’re definitely taxing your cardiovascular system as well as your musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems, and there’s a clear benefit to that,” he said.
Functional training, featuring squats, lunges and pull/push exercises, is also beneficial for healthy aging, he said, as it can strengthen the muscles needed to maintain mobility and physical function in old age.
Don’t just be active in the gym
“Being more active and having fewer rest periods during the day is very beneficial” for health and longevity, LeBrasseur said.
He recommended adding a little exercise into your day wherever you can—whether it’s parking your car farther from your destination, getting up to talk to colleagues instead of emailing them, or going to the grocery store instead of getting a shipment.
Think when you’re not moving, too, he said. If you work a sedentary job, he suggested getting up from your desk every hour to walk for 10 minutes or do some push-ups or squats.
Get started as soon as possible and choose something you like
“Sooner is always better,” LeBrasseur said. “It’s never too late. Even for 90-year-olds, there is strong evidence that exercise can have clear health benefits in maintaining function and preventing disease from worsening.”
But the most important thing about physical activity and exercise is consistency, he said. So pick an activity that you enjoy and can do regularly to reap the benefits.
LeBrasseur runs, bikes and swims, but said people shouldn’t try to copy him or anyone else. “The thing is, I do these things because I really enjoy them and I can be consistent with them. If you asked me to do another activity I had no interest in, I might do it for a week, but then I’d quit. “, he said.
Combining exercise with socializing can also make it easier to exercise regularly because it’s more enjoyable, plus your friends can keep you accountable.