One minute of running a day is associated with better bone health

A single minute of exercise each day is linked to better bone health in women, reports new research in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Scientists looked at data from over 2,500 women and found those who did brief bursts of high-intensity, weight-bearing activity equivalent to a medium-paced run for pre-menopausal women, or a slow jog for post-menopausal women, had better bone health.

In fact, women who on average did 60–120 seconds of high-intensity, weight-bearing activity a day had 4% better bone health than those who did less than a minute.

“We don’t yet know whether it’s better to accumulate this small amount of exercise in bits throughout each day or all at once, and also whether a slightly longer bout of exercise on one or two days per week is just as good as 1–2 minutes a day,” said lead author Dr Victoria Stiles. “But there’s a clear link between this kind of high-intensity, weight-bearing exercise and better bone health in women.”

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