Researchers at the University of Utah have discovered that even a few minutes of walking can help you to live longer.
How? Scientists found that people who were active for just two minutes every hour reduced their risk of dying by one third. For those who had chronic kidney disease, the change was even more dramatic – lowering the mortality rate by 41%. They have published their findings in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
While looking at the activities that people do, they found that standing for two minutes every hour did not produce a benefit. However, doing light activity like casual walking or housework during that time did have an impact.
As the lead scientist Professor Srinivasan Beddhu said: “It was fascinating to see the results because the current national focus is on moderate or vigorous activity. To see that light activity had an association with lower mortality is intriguing. Based on these results we would recommended adding two minutes of walking each hour in combination with normal activities, which should include two-and-a-half hours of moderate exercise each week.’
Co-author Dr Tom Greene, who is also from the University of Utah, said: “Exercise is great, but the reality is that the practical amount of vigorous exercise that can be achieved is limited. Our study suggests that even small changes can have a big impact.”
