To Your Health
December, 2020 (Vol. 14, Issue 12) |
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11 Minutes a Day Is All It Takes to Live Longer
By Editorial Staff
If you can't start an exercise program because you're overwhelmed by the mere thought of spending hours every week "sweating it out," keep in mind that while consistent exercise (an hour a day of physical activity most days of the week) is recommended and proven to have various health benefits, it doesn't take that much time at all to achieve perhaps the greatest health benefit of all: a longer life.
In fact, all it takes is 11 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, even if you've been sitting around all day. According to new research published in the British Journal of Medicine, those 11 minutes per day increase your odds of living longer than people who only exercise for two or fewer minutes per day.
The study, which analyzed data from nine previous studies, involved a total of 44,370 middle-aged men and women from four countries who wore activity trackers to track the amount and intensity of their physical activity each day. Researchers tracked study participants for up to 14.5 years to determine how many died during that time period – and correlate it with how much and at what intensity they exercised.
Eleven minutes a day – you can manage that, right? If nothing else, it's a good start. Before you know it, you may find yourself going even longer and even stronger; and in the process, you'll enjoy the life-extending, disease-preventing, health-and-wellness promoting benefits of exercise even more!
