Fifteen Minutes of Daily Exercise May Add Three Years of Life

In that many people struggle to meet the recommendation to engage in 30 minutes a day of exercise, five days a week, researchers from Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes (Taiwan) report that doing just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day may add three years to a person’s life.  Chi Pang Wen and colleagues tracked over 416,000 participants for 13 years, analyzing their health records and reported levels of physical activity each year. After taking into account differences in age, weight, sex and a range of health-related indicators, they found that just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day increased life expectancy by three years, as compared to those who remained inactive.  Daily exercise was also linked to a lower incidence of cancer, and appeared to reduce cancer-related deaths in one person in ten.  The researchers conclude that: “15 [minutes] a day or 90 [minutes] a week of moderate-intensity exercise might be of benefit, even for individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease.”