How much exercise is the right amount of exercise?

The question’s a tricky one—and one that I’m dealing with as I try to incorporate more activity into my daily life—but according to a blog post in The New York Times a pair of recent studies might have a better indication of the target we should all be aiming for.

Any amount of exercise reaps a benefit, but according to the first of these studies, moderate exercise of 150 minutes per week (about 20 minutes a day) resulted in a 31 percent reduction in the risk of dying in the study’s 14-year period.

Bumping that moderate exercise up to a full hour each day (or 450 minutes a week) bought the risk of dying down by a whopping 39 percent compared to people who did not exercise.

The second study found that putting in a little more strenuous exercise had benefits, too.

Up to 30 percent of participants’ time spent exercising vigorously resulted in a 9 percent reduction in mortality; and for those who did more than 30 percent, they gained an extra 13 percent reduction.

The researchers do point out that the study is based on the participants’ recollections of their own exercise habits, so the studies can’t concretely prove the amount of exercise directly impacts the mortality rate, just that there’s an association between the two.

The takeaway?

At minimum, try to go for about 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week if you can. Out of that, if you can do 20 or 30 minutes of vigorous activity (running instead of walking, for example), that should give an even greater health reward. And, of course, consult with your doctor before taking on any big exercise regimen.