The advice to get 150 minutes of exercise a week is the standard benchmark for heart health, cited by the American Heart Association, the WHO, and the Indonesian Health Ministry's Ayo Sehat portal. The benefit at that level is real, but a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in May 2026 puts it in a different light. Hitting 150 minutes cuts the risk of heart attack and stroke by only about 8 to 9 percent. For large heart protection, the researchers' figure jumps much higher: 560 to 610 minutes a week.
That gap changes how a long-standing health message should be read. For years, 150 minutes has been treated as if it were the finish line. The new data places it closer to the starting line. The team analyzed records from 17,088 UK Biobank participants, average age 57 and 56 percent women, followed for nearly eight years with 1,233 cardiovascular events recorded. To reach what they call a substantial drop in risk, above 30 percent, participants needed 560 to 610 minutes of active movement a week. That is 3.7 to 4 times the old recommendation, or about 80 to 87 minutes of active movement a day if spread evenly across seven days.
How much exercise is ideal for your heart?
For maximum heart protection, the UK Biobank study points to 560 to 610 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week, roughly 9 hours 20 minutes to 10 hours 10 minutes. Moderate activity is movement that raises your heart rate and breathing without leaving you out of breath, such as brisk walking, swimming, or easy cycling. Only 12 percent of the participants reached that threshold.
The ideal dose is not the same for everyone. The researchers found that participants with lower cardiorespiratory fitness needed an extra 30 to 50 minutes a week to gain the same benefit as those who were already fit. The finding supports the idea that activity targets should be matched to a person's starting condition rather than fixed at a single number.
Ziheng Ning, the lead researcher from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports at Macao Polytechnic University, says 150 minutes is better understood as an effective minimum threshold than as the dose for top cardiovascular protection. Even so, he stresses that the WHO guideline remains very important because it is realistic to reach, evidence-based, and clearly beneficial. For anyone who wants to add more, the principle he emphasizes is consistency and gradual increase, not a sudden jump.
Why 150 minutes still matters
The study is not a reason to dismiss light exercise. The opposite is true. For the tens of millions of people who barely move, getting past that first 150 minutes is still the most valuable step, because that early range is where each added minute pays off the most. The dose-response curve rises most steeply as a person shifts from sedentary to active, then flattens as the volume grows.
What the 2026 study adds is one new layer of information for people who already exercise regularly and want the most protection they can get: the ceiling is far higher than has been taught. The policy implications are open too. Future physical activity guidelines may need to separate the safe minimum dose from the optimal one, so the public does not mistake the entry threshold for the final goal.
Why this matters for Indonesian readers
In Indonesia the stakes are concrete. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death: stroke accounts for 19.42 percent of deaths and ischemic heart disease for 14.38 percent. The cost burden is also the largest at BPJS Kesehatan, the national health insurer, passing Rp10.28 trillion in 2023 according to data compiled by GoodStats from BPJS reports. The Health Ministry records a rising prevalence and, more worrying, heart attacks striking working-age people more often.
"There has been a 2 percent annual increase in the prevalence of heart attacks among people under 40 from 2000 to 2016," said Dr. Radityo Prakoso, chairman of the Indonesian Heart Association (PERKI).
That context gives the UK Biobank findings two edges. For the majority who have not yet reached the minimum threshold, the priority is clear: start moving. For those already active, there is room to raise the target gradually. The hardest challenge falls on the group with low fitness, who are generally the most at risk, because they need to add the most time for an equivalent result.
How exercise protects the heart
The mechanism has long been established. Regular aerobic activity trains the heart to pump blood more efficiently so its workload falls, improves circulation and lung capacity, and helps control blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight. These are the main risk factors for heart disease, alongside hypertension, smoking, and diabetes. The Health Ministry packages this prevention message through its CERDIK and PATUH slogans for non-communicable diseases.
To ease the heart disease burden, the government is leaning on stronger basic services. "To address heart disease in Indonesia, the Health Ministry is strengthening primary care through public education, primary prevention, secondary prevention, and raising the capacity and capability of primary services," said Dr. Eva Susanti, director of non-communicable disease prevention and control at the Indonesian Health Ministry. Screening at community health centers (Puskesmas) and integrated NCD posts (Posbindu PTM) is the front line.
The study's limits and open questions
The 560 to 610 minute figure is best read as a direction, not a rigid prescription. The study design is observational, so it shows an association but does not prove cause and effect. Most participants were white and middle-aged, and their fitness levels were estimated rather than measured directly in a laboratory. For Indonesia, where the age structure, work patterns, and access to exercise space differ, that threshold still needs testing on a closer population.
A few things are worth watching. Whether the WHO, AHA, or the Health Ministry will revise their physical activity guidelines, especially the idea of targets personalized by fitness. Whether follow-up studies designed to test causality and to include Asian populations will confirm the 560 to 610 minute threshold. And how primary care programs translate the "more is better" message without making still-sedentary people feel the target is impossible and give up at the first step. For now, the practical takeaway is simple: 150 minutes is a safe point worth holding, and every extra minute above it works for your heart.
