We recommend picking up one of our mobility walking aids and enjoying some time walking as a new study shows that 15 minutes of exercise a day can increase life expectancy by 20%, with the short amount of time a more realistic target for elder people to achieve daily.
Dr David Hupin, at the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, said:
“Age is not an excuse to do no exercise. It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment.
But less than half of older adults achieve the recommended minimum of 150 minutes moderate intensity or 75 minutes vigorous intensity exercise each week. We wanted to find out whether lower levels of exercise could be beneficial and even reduce mortality in older adults.”
The study had researchers study two groups of people. One, of 1,011 French people aged 65 in 2001, were followed up over a period of 12 years. The second, an international group, of 122,417 people aged 60, was followed up over 10 years.
Physical activity was measured in ‘Metabolic Equivalent of Task’ minutes each week, referring to the amount of energy expended per minute of physical activity with the number of MET minutes an individual clocks up every week depending on the intensity of physical activity.
The researchers looked at the associated risk of death across four categories of weekly physical activity in MET minutes – defined as inactive, low (one to 499), medium (500 to 999) and high (above 1,000).
During the follow up there were 88 (9%) and 18,122 (15%) in the French and international groups, with researchers noting that the risk of death fell as exercise levels increased.
When compared to those people who were considered inactive, older adults with low, medium and high activity levels had a 22 per cent, 28 and 35 per cent lower risk of death.
Dr Hupin added: “These two studies show that the more physical activity older adults do, the greater the health benefit. The biggest jump in benefit was achieved at the low level of exercise, with the medium and high levels bringing smaller increments of benefit.”
Dr Hupin went on to say: “We found that the low level of activity, which is half the recommended amount, was associated with a 22 per cent reduced risk of death in older adults compared with those who were inactive. This level of activity equates to a 15-minute brisk walk every day. We think that older adults should progressively increase physical activity in their daily lives rather than dramatically changing their habits to meet recommendations.
Fifteen minutes a day could be a reasonable target for older adults.”
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