Women's Health April 10, 2026 0 Comments

Why Spending More Time Exercising Could Be Wrecking Your Health—And What to Do Instead

Ever wonder if sweating buckets for an extra hour actually beats cranking up the intensity for just a few minutes? Turns out, you might be putting in more time than effort, and the science says working out harder—not necessarily longer—could be your game changer. A recent study published in the European Heart Journal dives deep into how brief bursts of vigorous exercise can knock down your risk for a lineup of nasty chronic diseases—think type 2 diabetes, dementia, and even irregular heartbeat. As someone who’s seen the fitness industry morph through countless trends and Google’s ever-mysterious algorithm shifts, this fresh angle on intensity over duration feels like a win-win. And hey, if you’ve been slogging through endless reps or miles wondering if it’s really worth it, this might just change how you lace up your sneakers. But hold on, it’s not about ditching the slower stuff entirely—there’s room for all kinds of movement here. Ready to push the pace in smarter, not longer ways? Let’s unpack what the experts found and why your heart will thank you for it.

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New research suggests that working out harder (and not necessarily longer) can have health benefits.

Researchers observed vigorous exercise with eight chronic diseases, including major cardiovascular disease, irregular heartbeat, type 2 diabetes, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, liver disease, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.

Experts say that while this study focused on intense exercise, low-impact exercise can still be beneficial.

Research has repeatedly linked exercise to a lower risk of developing chronic disease. But while it makes sense to assume that working out longer would help drive your risk of disease down even more, a new study suggests simply pushing yourself to work out harder may do the trick.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, suggests that adding bursts of more intense activity may provide additional benefits—even if they’re brief. Of course, this doesn’t mean you won’t get health perks from a slower, less intense workout. But it does make a solid case for pushing the pace and intensity, even during just a small portion of your workouts. Here’s why.

Meet the experts: Eric Ascher, DO, family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital; Jessica Hennessey, MD, PhD, cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center; and Padma Shenoy, MD, a cardiologist at Manhattan Cardiology.

What did the study find?

For the observational study, researchers analyzed data from more than 96,000 people who wore activity trackers for a week and nearly 376,000 people who self-reported their activity levels as part of the UK Biobank. The researchers investigated the likelihood that participants would develop eight chronic diseases over the next seven years. These diseases included: major cardiovascular disease, irregular heartbeat, type 2 diabetes, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, liver disease, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.

Researchers found that people with high levels of vigorous exercise had a much lower risk of developing any of the chronic diseases studied. Those with the highest levels of vigorous activity were associated with significantly lower risks, including up to a 63 percent lower risk of developing dementia, a 60 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and a 46 percent lower risk of dying over the study’s seven-year period compared to people who didn’t do any vigorous activity.

But some of those benefits still extended to people who spent just a few minutes a day doing vigorous activity, which suggests pushing yourself for any amount of time may still make a difference in your overall health.

Why might vigorous activity lower the risk of these conditions?

There are likely a few things at play here. “Higher intensity exercise leads to improvement in oxygen utilization and improvements in VO2 max, which is effectively a measure of your cardiovascular fitness,” says Jessica Hennessey, MD, PhD, cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. This leads to “stress” on your body’s aerobic systems and improves your metabolism’s efficiency, Hennessey explains.

“This ‘stress’ additionally leads to improvements in inflammation and boosts anti-inflammatory pathways,” she says.

Vigorous exercise trains your heart to pump blood more efficiently and your blood vessels to manage higher demands on your heart, Hennessey explains, adding that this type of exercise can even impact your hormones—especially those involved in your metabolism.

“Bursts of exercise also improve your body’s use of insulin in response to managing sugar breakdown and diabetes risk,” says Eric Ascher, DO, family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital. “Exercise, even in bursts, can decrease inflammation and help flush out toxins from the body.”

What counts as vigorous activity?

Vigorous activity is anything where you can’t speak a full sentence, says Padma Shenoy, MD, a cardiologist at Manhattan Cardiology. She lists swimming laps, running, biking, and doing strenuous exercise classes as examples.

Even daily activities can count here, if they’re intense enough. “The study makes the point that the exercise isn’t always structured but can be in brief bursts, like running up the stairs from the subway or running to the bus,” Hennessey says.

How to put this to work for you

If you’re a beginner, Shenoy suggests building up your exercise tolerance by starting with a slow jog or slow bike ride and gradually ramping up the speed.

“It is important to remember that vigorous exercise doesn’t necessarily have to be high impact,” Hennessey says. “If you have joint issues, there are still low-impact but high-intensity cardiovascular exercises that can be done, like Zumba, biking, and power walking.”

And keep in mind: Hennessey says you’re not out of luck if you really hate vigorous exercise. “There may be an added benefit to increased intensity, but this should be a ‘bonus’ on top of your baseline work, rather than the foundation.”

Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.

Carina Hsieh, MPH, is the deputy features editor of Women’s Health. She has more than a decade’s worth of experience working in media and has covered everything from beauty, fashion, travel, lifestyle, pets, to health.

She began her career as an intern in the fashion closet at Cosmopolitan where she worked her way up to Senior Sex & Relationships Editor. While covering women’s health there, she discovered her passion for health service journalism and took a break to get her Masters in Public Health. Post-grad school, she worked as a freelance writer and as The Daily Beast’s first Beauty, Health, and Wellness Reporter.

Carina is an alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Yale School of Public Health. She and her French Bulldog, Bao Bao, split their time between Brooklyn and Connecticut. She enjoys reformer Pilates, (slow) running, and smelling the fancy toiletries in boutique fitness class locker rooms.