Time. It’s something most of us feel we don’t have enough of these days. Twenty-four hours divided by three. One portion for work, another for sleep, and whatever’s left goes to the rest of our lives. That last third is split between people we’d love to be with, chores we need to do, books to read, movies to watch, catching up on social media, hobbies and leisure activities we’d like to re-experience or discover and enjoy. These sparse hours and minutes will also need to be partly spent on commuting, meals, and bathroom duties. That’s a lot to squeeze into a third of a day.
No wonder then that many people opt to skip on exercise. And yet …
Time. You need very little of it to engage in one of the most efficient ways to give your body the workout it needs. High intensity interval training, or HIIT for short, is any form of cardio exercise done in short, intense bursts alternated with low-intensity recovery periods. Whether it’s cycling, running, dancing, jumping rope, or any other cardio option you fancy, HIIT offers a list of proven benefits. Workouts can last for as little as fifteen to thirty minutes—or go up to forty-five, if you wish.
What does that equal to in a day? Rather than reaching for a smartphone minutes after waking up, a person can get dressed and jump rope instead. Or go out and bike. Or sprint in spurts around the block.
Past the peak of our reproductive years, our body believes its job is done and stops bothering with nonessentials.
TRIANA JACKSON, a character from “a ghost for a clue,” REBELLING AGAINST AGEING AND DEATH
It need not even be every single day. Because research shows you only need to do HIIT two to three days a week. Incredibly, that’s enough to help decrease body fat and improve cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health.
A minimal investment with maximum gains. Because …
Time. It’s one thing that HIIT can buy you. Research shows that people who have consistently high levels of activity have longer telomeres, these are sections of DNA at the ends of our chromosomes which shorten as we age. A 2017 study found that highly active adults have telomeres that appear nine years “younger” compared to those of less active counterparts. And when it comes to HIIT, science says that it’s the best anti-aging workout there is. According to a 2018 study, HIIT lengthens telomeres better than strength training does. Yes, you read that right. HIIT lengthens telomeres. And telomerase–an enzyme that maintains those chromosome caps–increases. That, in a nutshell, means it turns back the clock.
With such immense benefits, why do humans consistently shove exercising aside and classify it as something dispensable? Because we evolved not needing this artificial high-energy activity. Exercise, the way modern humankind gets it, is ridiculous from the perspective of prehistoric society. Lifting weights for the sheer purpose of lifting them, skipping in place, cycling with your destination being your starting point, and bending, twisting, jumping and working up a sweat without producing anything besides…sweat. What’s the sense in that? To them, exercising would have seemed like such a waste of …
Time. We began as hunters and gatherers who had to stay on our feet, walking, hiking, running and climbing to survive. Over the course of approximately 300,000 years, our brains cleverly crafted a vastly different world and way of life for all of humanity. Now, we spend entire days comfortably seated—whether working, traveling, socializing and dining. Even our toilets seats have become comfortable thrones. Our lives take us from baby strollers to classroom seats to computer and executive chairs to wheelchairs.
Exercising, to our “caveman brain,” is unnatural. Nonsensical. Unnecessary. But modern science is telling us it’s important. Life enhancing. And age defying.
Finally, we’ve got scientific reasons to tell our primitive brain to HIIT the road. It’s about time.