Oct 01, 2015 02:16 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that a short duration of intense exercise a few times a week is enough to optimize the future health of teens.

Researchers from the University of Exeter found that just eight to 10 minutes of high-intensity exercise a three times a week could reduce the risk of teens developing heart conditions.

Currently, teenagers are recommended to perform a minimum of 60 minutes of daily exercise to prevent future disease, however according to the Health Survey for England less than 30 percent of adolescent boys and 20 percent of adolescent girls achieve this amount. Furthermore, efforts to increase physical activity levels in this age group often fail.

"We know that activity levels drop significantly as children reach adolescence, and so far attempts to increase this to an hour a day have proved fruitless," researcher Dr. Alan Barker said in a statement. "This study indicates that, providing the intensity is high, health benefits are achievable with just eight to10 minutes of exercise."

For the study, researchers asked six girls and seven boys aged between 13 and 14, all from Sidmouth Community College, to carry out six high-intensity workouts over two weeks. They were asked to cycle in high-speed bursts of one minute, with a 75 second break in between. They started with eight bursts and built up to ten over the two weeks.

Their findings showed that the training improved both blood vessel function and the brain's ability to control the beating of the heart.

"We may have more success in encouraging teenagers to dedicate a shorter time to improving their health by performing high-intensity exercise," Dr. Bert Bond, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "This is an important finding, but more work is needed to inform existing physical activity guidelines for health. The next step is to confirm these results on more participants, especially groups who are at greater risk of future cardiovascular disease, and to address the impact of longer high-intensity interventions."

The findings are detailed in the American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

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