From Life to Lab: 10 Minute Workout Really Works

From Life to Lab: 10 Minute Workout Really Works

By Shlomo Maital

At my university’s superb fitness center, I work out regularly. My workout is pretty short – abs, legs, arms and shoulders. Often, I am done in 10 minutes.  And often, I feel badly, watching some of my colleagues puff and sweat and push and pull and exercise for up to an hour. But now comes research suggesting, a 10-minute workout can indeed be very beneficial.

Newcastle University, UK, clinical exercise physiologist Sam Orange reports in the Int. Journal of Cancer,* summarized in Science Daily, the following: “…cancer fighting biological changes can be triggered in the body after just 10 minutes of intense cycling.”

The burst of exercise apparently released beneficial molecules into the blood, speeding up DNA repair and dialing down genes related to cancer growth.

I think a short burst of exercise does a whole lot more than release ‘beneficial molecules’. It tells our brains and our bodies: Hello! I am alive. And I love life. I want to keep fit, to continue to be active and enjoy my life. Can you help?   

And our brains respond, and help out. Feeling good is productive for our immune system, telling it to keep hard at work, to keep us alive, because…we want to remain alive.  

How intense does the 10 minutes of workouts need to be? I think even a brisk walk counts. I guess the point is, basically, do anything to get your body moving…and be happier…and hence healthier. 

• Orange, S. T., Dodd, E., Nath, S., Bowden, H., Jordan, A. R., Tweddle, H., … & Saha, S. S. (2025). Exercise serum promotes DNA damage repair and remodels gene expression in colon cancer cells. International Journal of Cancer.