A study done in Taiwan with 400,000 people in eight years, said that 15 minutes of daily exercise increases life expectancy by up to three years and reduces the risk of death by 14%. According to the report, this benefits all people, regardless of age, physical condition, sex or have a chronic disease. Exercise training reduces chances of heart disease and of cancer.
The research, published in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, says that 15 minutes of exercise six days a week - or 90 minutes of exercise distributed during the week - protects the heart, reduce diabetes and helps prevent cancer development. The research found that for every 15 minutes of physical activity a day the risk of death from heart failure lowers chances by 4% and lowers chances of developing cancer by 1%.
"If sedentary or inactive people do a little exercise every day, one in six deaths from heart disease or cancer could be avoided. This measure has a similar success to snuff control programs", said Chi-Pang Wen in a press release, of the National Institute of Health Research in Taiwan, the study coordinator.
How was it done? Doctors and physical education instructors in Taiwan recruited 416,175 people over 20 years. All participants gave blood samples, were weighed, measured and cholesterol and blood glucose levels were recorded. Participants also completed a questionnaire indicating how much physical activity per day, and how much they drank or smoked. They were divided into five groups according to the level of exercise they do: idle or low (no or little physical activity), medium (you exercise often), high and very high (almost a professional athlete). All were followed for eight years in order to determine the impact of exercise on your health.
"If only 15 minutes of physical activity is needed to give a longer life to a person, governments and health professionals should give more support to the creation of spaces for people to do exercises," said The Lancet magazine in a comment about the study.
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