Teenagers should run around like young children and do short bursts of high-intensity exercise, a new study claims.
If adolescents do as little as two minutes of strenuous exercise four times a day, it can be beneficial in improving long-term health.
Researchers at the University of Exeter said the same level of medium-intensity exercise did not reap the same rewards for teenagers.
They found that when exercise was broken up into short bursts over the course of a day – replicating the way young children go about being active – only high-intensity exercise is effective in improving blood sugar levels, fat metabolism and blood pressure in adolescents after the consumption of a fatty meal.
The research adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that accumulating short bouts of high-intensity exercise may be more important for cardiovascular health than exercising at a moderate intensity.
This is important, as cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the UK and the process underlying these diseases starts in youth.
Co-author Dr Alan Barker, from the University of Exeter, said: "Children and adolescents tend to perform brief bouts of exercise.
"This study shows that the intensity of this pattern of exercise is important, with high-intensity providing superior health benefits than moderate-intensity exercise."
In the study, adolescents had their blood sugar, blood pressure and fat metabolism measured at regular intervals over eight hours, which included the consumption of a fatty meal for breakfast and lunch.
During this period the participants were asked to perform four bouts of high or moderate-intensity exercise.
This allowed the researchers to conclude that the intensity of exercise is important for health in adolescents when the exercise is accumulated during the day.
:: The study, Accumulating Exercise and Postprandial Health in Adolescents, is published in the journal Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental.