A new study suggests that doing light physical activity such as cooking or simply washing the dishes can significantly reduce your risk of an early death.
Researchers at the University of Leicester who conducted the study say people who want to live longer can raise their chances by being that little more active on a daily basis.
In the study, led by the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, the results showed that death rates steeply fell as levels of light-intensity activity increased – that means doing everything from taking the trash out to ditching the television and taking a walk around the block when you’re in the office can help you live longer.
The report published in the BMJ by Ulf Ekelund and Thomas Yates, shows that when the intensity of physical activity increased to a moderate level (think breaking a sweat on a brisk walk or hoovering the entire house) a similarly steep decrease in deaths occurred with just 24 minutes of physical activity carried out everyday.
On the other side of the spectrum, those who did nothing all day, or sat for 9.5 hours or more were seen to have a more significant increase of dying earlier and developing other medical conditions, such as heart disease.
Current physical recommendations, in the UK and US, suggest that at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity is needed to keep healthy, and that any prolonged period of sitting should be avoided.
Eight previous studies involving 36,383 adults aged 40 or over who wore trackers were reviewed by a team at the University of Leicester.
Their health was monitored on average of 5.8 years, during which time 2,149 of the people observed had died.
Speaking of the results, Professor Thomas Yates of the University of Leicester said the findings were ‘fantastic’.
‘It has previously been widely assumed that more is better in terms of physical activity for health,’ he said.
‘However, this study suggests health may be optimized with just 24 minutes per day of brisk walking or other forms of moderate-intensity physical activity.’
Conclusion? Sit less, move more and more often, because the elixir of life was in your feather duster all along.
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