Just 15 Minutes of Exercise a Day ‘Increases Your Life Expectancy by THREE YEARS

People who say they are too busy to exercise now have little excuse, after scientists found just 15 minutes of activity a day is enough to lengthen your life.

Scientists reported in The Lancet that even short bursts of physical exertion can lengthen your lifespan by three years.

While the initial exercise reduced death rates by 14 per cent, each additional 15 minutes of activity further reduced the rate by four per cent.

This trend continued until a person was exercising for 100 minutes a day, after which no further benefit was seen.

More vigorous activity for shorter periods of time had the same effect as less intense exercise carried out for longer.

Exercise was also seen to have a very protective effect against cancer.

People classified as ‘inactive’ had an 11 per cent higher risk of dying of cancer than those in the ‘low-volume’ activity group.

Cancer deaths fell by one per cent for each additional 15 minutes of daily exercise after the first 15 minutes.

The study from the National Health Research Institutes in Zhunan, Taiwan, involved more than 400,000 people followed between 1996 and 2008 in a medical screening programme.

Participants, who were all aged 20 and above, were questioned about their weekly leisure-time physical activity.

They were then placed into one of five categories based on a formula that took into account both exercise intensity and duration. The different ‘exercise volume’ groups were ‘inactive’, ‘low’, ‘medium’, ‘high’, and ‘very high’.

On average those in the ‘low-volume’ group exercised for 92 minutes a week, or 15 minutes per day.

Benefits of exercise were said to apply to both sexes, across all age groups, and to those at risk of heart disease.

Research leader Dr Chi-Pang Wen, said: ‘Individuals who did a daily average of 15 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise had significant health benefits when compared with individuals who were inactive.

‘In Taiwan, if inactive individuals engage in low-volume daily exercise, one in six all-cause deaths could be postponed.’

The results were similar to the benefits of quitting smoking, he added.

Exercise was also seen to have a very protective effect against cancer

The study showed that two hours a week of vigorous-intensity exercise generated similar health benefits as four hours a week of moderate-intensity exercise.

‘People who want to exercise but claim not to have much available time can benefit from the positive health effects of exercise if they do vigorous-intensity exercise once or even twice a week (eg at weekends),’ said the researchers.

However, they warned squashing activity into two days increased the potential for injury and heart attacks.

Another study published last night showed that watching too much television can reduce life expectancy.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies said: ‘Physical activity offers huge benefits and these studies back what we already know – that doing a little bit of physical activity each day brings health benefits and a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks.

‘That’s why the UK’s chief medical officers recently updated their advice on physical activity to be more flexible, right from babyhood to adult life.

‘Adults for example can get their 150 minutes of activity a week in sessions of 10 minutes or more and for the first time we have provided guidelines on reducing sedentary time.

‘We hope these studies will help more people realise that there are many ways to get exercise – activities like walking at a good pace or digging the garden over can count too.’

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