Tom Earnshaw
New research has been published that explains a simple secret that everyone can use to live a longer and healthier life.
The idea of dying before you want is a sombre yet very real thing for many people in the world, with conditions such as type-two diabetes, cancer, and ischaemic heart disease being among the biggest causes of death across the world.
But these conditions, and others like them, can easily be avoided, according to experts at Griffith University in Australia.
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In new research published by the team, one simple change to your life could result in years being added to how long you spend on planet Earth.
Griffith University researchers looked into just how important physical activity was for promoting good physical health.
Investigating this at a more granular level, they wanted to know just how much you needed to do in order to have health benefits that would mean you live longer.
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As a result, they found that if everyone in the United States of America was as active as the top 25 per cent, individuals over the age of 40 could add five years to their life.
This latest study used something called accelerometry, which is a technique that measures and analyses changes in body velocity to quantify physical activity and sleep patterns.
Using this, it gave an accurate view of American's physical activity levels instead of relying on survey responses as per other studies, and found the benefits were around twice as strong as previous estimates.
The research states that the most active quarter of people in the community had a 73 per cent lower risk of death than their least active counterparts.
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For that least active quartile, a single one-hour walk could potentially return a benefit of around six additional hours of life.
Lead researcher Professor Lennert Veerman said this least-active cohort had the greatest potential for health gains.
Professor Veerman stressed that if you're already among the most active, the benefit might well not be there.
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“If you’re already very active or in that top quartile, an extra hour’s walk may not make much difference as you’ve, in a sense, already ‘maxxed out’ your benefit,” he said.
“If the least active quartile of the population over age 40 were to increase their activity level to that of the most active quartile however, they might live, on average, about 11 years longer.
“This is not an unreasonable prospect, as 25 percent of the population is already doing it. It can be any type of exercise but would roughly be the equivalent of just under three hours of walking per day.”
Looking at those who aren't physically active in the slightest, the research suggests low levels of physical activity could even rival the negative effects of smoking.
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Other research has previously found that each cigarette could take 11 minutes from a smoker’s life.
On the flip side, being more active can also offer protective effects against heart disease, stroke, certain cancers and other chronic illnesses, with the study’s findings highlighting a need for national physical activity guidelines to be revisited using these methods.