Everyone knows exercise is good for you, but what kind of exercise and how much?
According to a new study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, three minutes of sprinting produces more dramatic effects than 90 minutes of moderate exercise.
An international team of researchers led by scientists from Rockefeller University tasked a group of healthy adults to engage in 90 minutes of moderate exercise or intense, sprint-interval training (six 30-second intervals with four minutes rest in between). The two cohorts either ran on a treadmill or cycled as their respective treatments. Before and after the exercise sessions, they drew plasma from the participants to analyze the protein and metabolite composition.
They found stark differences between the two groups. For the fast-paced cyclists, nearly 25 percent of their proteins had been altered, compared to fewer than one quarter of 1 percent for the moderate group. The moderate treadmill runners had more altered proteins than cyclists, but nowhere near as many as sprinters. Among the changes in the sprinting groups were increases in the proteins involved in blood-vessel growth, tissue remodeling, and hormonal signaling. The moderate exercise groups showed slower, more modest changes.
Read more: “How to Run Across Death Valley in the Summer”
Interestingly, many of these sprinting proteins seemed to enter the bloodstream quickly too. According to the team, these proteins were released via a process called “ectodomain shedding.” Rather than being secreted, they were clipped off of cell membranes, offering them a shortcut to the circulatory system.
Human fat cells cultured in plasma from the two groups also showed significant differences. Gene activity in the sprinting cells showed more dramatic alterations, including pathways related to fuel processing, hormone response, and nutrient sensing.
To investigate any links to diseases, the researchers compared their results to health data from more than 53,000 people in the United Kingdom Biobank. They found many of these sprinting proteins were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. In fact, of 33 protein biomarkers associated with a lower risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic problems, 32 were altered by sprinting.
Of course, this study comes with some caveats. The cohorts involved were pretty tiny—less than 20 people in both groups—and heavily biased toward men. Still, getting any kind of metabolic boost from a workout that lasts less than half an hour seems like a pretty good deal.
“What’s exciting here is that just a few minutes of intense exercise can trigger a significant molecular response,” study author Paul Cohen said in a statement. “And we still see it after eight weeks of training, which tells us this response isn’t simply a product of the body struggling to keep up with unfamiliar stress. It may be that the responses we observed are intrinsic to intense exercise.”
Maybe it’s time to give sprinting a try? 
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Lead image: Sanem / Adobe Stock
