Low levels of physical activity could be as bad for your lifespan as smoking, scientists said.
It’s impossible to know how long we will live. A number of factors influence our lifespan, including some that are beyond our control and others within it.
But certain lifestyle factors such as our diet and whether we smoke, for example, can affect our life expectancy. And now scientists have pinpointed exactly how much exercise is needed for a longer, healthier life.
According to a new study, the equivalent of walking for just under three hours a day could increase your life expectancy by as much as 11 years. Researchers, from Griffith University in Australia, revealed that the most active quarter of people in the US had a 73 percent lower risk of death than their least active counterparts.
And for that least active quartile, a single one-hour walk could potentially return a benefit of around six additional hours of life. Lead researcher Professor Lennert Veerman said this least-active cohort had the greatest potential for health gains.
“If you’re already very active or in that top quartile, an extra hour’s walk may not make much difference as you’ve, in a sense, already ‘maxed out’ your benefit,” he said. “If the least active quartile of the population over age 40 were to increase their activity level to that of the most active quartile however, they might live, on average, about 11 years longer.
“This is not an unreasonable prospect, as 25 percent of the population is already doing it. It can be any type of exercise but would roughly be the equivalent of just under three hours of walking per day.”
Low levels of physical activity could even be as bad for you as smoking, the team said. And, as reported by Science Daily, a more active lifestyle could also offer protective effects against heart disease, stroke, certain cancers and other chronic illnesses.
Dr Veerman continued: “If there’s something you could do to more than halve your risk of death, physical activity is enormously powerful. If we could increase investment in promoting physical activity and creating living environments that promote it such as walkable or cyclable neighbourhoods and convenient, affordable public transport systems, we could not only increase longevity but also reduce pressure on our health systems and the environment.”
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. For health reasons, the NHS recommends you take part in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.