Question

A minimum of how many minutes is needed to achieve the benefits of cardiovascular activity? (1 point)
10-15
20-30
30-45
45-60

Answer 1

The question is faulty. I believe the answer for this question is 20-30 minutes based on this quote:

"More is not better when it comes to cardio. Most of you will benefit from 3 sessions of 20-30 minutes. Never go above 45 minutes at a time when doing cardio as after 45 minutes the catabolic hormone cortisol will increase and you will risk losing muscle tissue and protecting fat! Only competitive bodybuilders may find themselves doing as much as 45 minutes twice a day before a show but that amount is kept for very short periods of time." - http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/cardioexercisebasics/tp/cardiotips.htm


However, the question doesn't specify if they mean all at once or over the course of a day -- or year for that matter. Nevertheless, I found this as well:

"The Surgeon General’s Report, a joint CDC/ACSM consensus statement, and a National Institutes of Health report agreed that the benefits mentioned above will generally occur by engaging in at least 30 minutes of modest activity on most, preferably all, days of the week...Note that the specific phrase “…30 minutes of accumulated activity…” is used in the above-mentioned reports. It has been shown that repeated intermittent or shorter bouts of activity (such as 10 minutes) that include occupational and recreational activity or the tasks of daily living have similar cardiovascular and other health benefits if performed at the moderate intensity level with an accumulated duration of at least 30 minutes per day." - http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/107/1/e2.full