No time to exercise? A recent study featured on Medical News Today says that you only need to do 12 minutes of physical activity a week to stay healthy.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology worked with 26 inactive, overweight, but generally healthy men for 10 weeks. Half of the participants (1-AIT group) had a vigorous four-minute workout thrice a week, while the other half (the 4-AIT group) had 16-minute sessions, which were broken down into four minute exercises.

The results showed that the 1-AIT group increased their oxygen intake by 10 percent, while the 4-AIT increased their oxygen intake by 13 percent. The 4-AIT group also managed to reduce their cholesterol and body fat levels.

So don’t worry about not having any time to go to the gym. "A growing body of evidence suggests that exercise training with low-volume but high-intensity may be a time-efficient means to achieve health benefits," says study author Arnt Erik Tjønna.

(Photo by lululemon athletica via Flickr Creative Commons)