Doing a moderate to intense workout for about 262 minutes a week is the sweet spot for protecting your heart — going more than that doesn’t help any more.

If you're an adult without heart disease and you get 150 to 300 minutes of brisk exercise each week, you're less likely to die from any cause — especially if your body has trouble processing sugar. This amount of activity might help reduce the danger that comes with metabolic issues.

If you're at very high risk for heart problems, doing just 42 minutes of intense exercise a week seems to give you the best heart health boost — doing more might not help as much and could even reduce the benefits.

People who exercise moderately—like jogging or cycling a few hours a week—have the lowest risk of heart attacks, but those who exercise way more than that don’t get any extra protection against heart events.

If you're at high risk for heart problems, doing more than an hour of intense exercise a week might not help your heart as much as doing less — it could even be less beneficial.

People who exercise a lot—like marathon runners—live longer than those who don’t, even though they don’t have fewer heart attacks. Exercise helps you live longer, but not necessarily by preventing heart attacks alone.