Study finds cardiovascular benefits peak at 560 to 610 minutes weekly

A new study suggests that achieving optimal protection against heart attacks and strokes may require adults to engage in significantly more weekly exercise than current public health guidelines recommend. The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, indicates that substantial cardiovascular benefits are associated with 560 to 610 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, an amount roughly four times higher than the long-standing minimum target of 150 minutes.

The observational study analyzed data from 17,088 middle-aged adults participating in the UK Biobank project. Participants wore wrist-worn activity monitors for a week and completed cycling tests to estimate their cardiorespiratory fitness, measured as VO2 max. Researchers then tracked the group for an average of nearly eight years, during which 1,233 cardiovascular events—including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation—were recorded.

The analysis confirmed that meeting the current guideline of 150 minutes per week was associated with a modest 8 to 9 percent reduction in cardiovascular risk, a benefit consistent across all fitness levels. However, to achieve...