Michael Mosley's 10-minute fitness tip 'boosts metabolism more than half-hour workout'

Dr Michael Mosley has shared how short, 10-minute bursts of exercise may be more beneficial to your health than working out for 30 minutes at a time.

The health expert, who sadly passed away from natural causes at the age of 67, was known for promoting the 5:2 diet and creating the very similar Fast 800. A regular face on television, he has shared myriad health tips with his many fans.

In particular, one of his exercise hacks has recently recaptured attention. Dr Mosley explained how short bursts of physical activity could potentially deliver greater benefits than longer workout sessions.

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In a TikTok video circulating social media, he was asked: "Is one 30-minute workout better than three 10-minute workouts?". To this, he responded: "[There's] a bit of evidence that doing the three 10-minute exercises stretched across the day is probably slightly more beneficial.

"That if you do that, it 'hoiks' up your metabolic rate three times a day. Personally, I try and fit in as many sort of 10-minute chunks [of exercise] as I can."

The video was captioned: "Here’s one of Dr Michael Mosley’s top exercise tips! If you’re wondering whether to do all your daily exercise in one go, or break it up across the day, there is a small [amount] of evidence to suggest that breaking it up is the way to go!"

The BBC highlighted a study suggesting that breaking up moderate-intensity exercise into smaller segments, dubbed 'exercise snacking', could be more effective for weight loss, reducing body fat, and lowering levels of LDL cholesterol. These brief bursts of activity are also comparable to longer workouts in improving cardiorespiratory fitness and blood pressure.

This approach is ideal for those with limited time or who struggle with maintaining lengthy workout routines. Short, 10-minute home exercises can be more manageable than committing to an hour at the gym.

Dr Marie Murphy from the University of Ulster noted: "We used to tell people to try to do it in 10-minute bouts.

"But looking at the more recent evidence, it seems to be that almost any length of exercise will count. The key message here is every single minute counts. And so even if you've only got a minute, you can still use that wisely to accumulate towards that 30-minute target."