If your aim is to lose a little weight, you might benefit from cutting back your hour exercise regime by half.

According to a recent study which monitored weight loss in 60 overweight Danish men who previously lead sedentary lives, a 30-minute workout can render the same results as an hour workout.

The men were split into three groups. One group did aerobic exercise for 30 minutes daily at a high intensity level, while another group exercised at high intensity for 60 minutes daily. The progress of both groups was monitored for three months. The third group was left to remain sedentary.

Researchers were surprised to find that the group doing the 30-minute workout showed the same weight and fat loss as those who engaged in the 60 minute workout, even though this longer routine resulted in almost double the amount of calories burned.

On the other hand, those in the 30-minute routine burned far more calories than scientists had anticipated.

They speculated that this result could be due to the fact that those exercising for longer were also eating more to compensate for their harder workout, while those doing the shorter workout saw it as less daunting and therefore exercised more vigorously.

Men from the shorter exercise routine lost an average of 3.6 kilograms, while the average weight loss of those men in the longer routine was at 2.7 kilograms - almost a whole kilo difference. For both groups, fat reduction was on par at four kilograms.