Vigorous exercise is four times more effective than moderate exercise at protecting the heart, according to new research published in Nature Communications.

The research Wearable device-based health equivalence of different physical activity intensities against mortality, cardiometabolic disease and cancer was a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia.

The findings question the World Health Organization guidance of 150–300 min of moderate-intensity physical activity being equivalent to 75–150 min of vigorous physical activity per week, which assumes that vigorous exercise is only twice as beneficial as moderate.

After assessing data from 73,000 adults using wearables, researchers found that each minute of vigorous intensity activity is roughly equivalent to four to nine minutes of moderate activity and 53–156 min of light intensity physical activity for all cause mortality and cardiometabolic outcomes.

“Our findings are in stark contrast to the widely used current convention of a 1:2 ratio between vigorous and moderate intensity, which was derived from self-reported data,” says the research. “Our work expands behaviour change and supports practitioners and future trials to establish more accurate dosages and define options for prescribing physical activity prescription and personalised medicine initiatives.”