15 minutes daily exercise adds three years to life

We all know we should walk rather than take the bus, but now there is an even bigger motivation: just 15 minutes of exercise a day could boost life expectancy by three years

A little exercise goes a long way, according to a new study. Just 15 minutes of exercise a day could reduce your risk of cancer and add an average of three years to your life.

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Experts in The Lancet say 15 minutes of daily exercise is the bare minimum an adult must do to gain any health benefits - only half of the quantity currently recommended in the UK.

‘This study backs what we already know – that doing a little bit of physical activity each day brings health benefits and a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks,’ says England’s Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies.

The findings were based on a review of more than 400,000 people in Taiwan.

‘We hope these studies will help more people realise that there are many ways to get exercise, activities like walking at a good pace or digging the garden can count too,’ continues Ms Davies.

Prof Stuart Biddle from Loughborough University says a lot of people in the UK now fall into the category of inactive and 30 minutes of daily exercise might seem challenging for some.

‘You can get good gains with relatively small amounts of physical activity,’ he says. ‘More is always better, but less is a good place to start.’

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