20 Mins of Exercise a Week Keeps Shrink at Bay

If the goal of your exercise program is better mental health, a new study shows that even 20 minutes a week of sports, gardening, or housecleaning may be enough to boost your mood. But if you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness, lose weight, or reduce your risk of life-threatening diseases, figuring out the best amount of exercise becomes much trickier, the New York Times reports.

Recent sport science on the health benefits of exercise is wildly inconsistent: Some studies say exercise in any dose has little effect on risk of disease, depression, and premature death; others say only very rigorous exercise helps; others say even a walk a few times a week reduces the risk of early death. But what scientists do agree on is that the biggest difference is between no exercise and a little exercise: Moderate activity benefits the sedentary more than a stepped-up workout benefits the athletic.
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