It’s no secret that getting in your daily steps can be one of the most effective ways to stay fit and healthy as we age. The low-impact exercise can be much easier to maintain on a daily basis than more strenuous workouts. But don’t underestimate this simple physical activity, as scientists say taking an easy walk once a day could add as much as six years to your life.
RELATED: “Super-Agers” Who Remember Everything at 80 Have These Things in Common, Research Says.
New evidence suggests that an hour-long walk could boost longevity.
The latest data comes from a new study published in November in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, in which researchers analyzed data collected from roughly 4,200 volunteers taking part in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES). The annual study provides trackers to participants to monitor their physical activity and movement.
The team then compared the results with a life-table model, which helped establish a pattern between life expectancy and activity level. Results showed that those already highly active might not improve much by moving more. However, those in the least active quartile of adults could see a significant increase in life expectancy if they matched the top quartile by getting in an hour-long walk each day.
“If all individuals were as active as the top 25 percent of the population, Americans over the age of 40 could live an extra 5.3 years on average,” the researchers wrote of their findings.
“The greatest gain in lifetime per hour of walking was seen for individuals in the lowest activity quartile where an additional hour’s walk could add 376.3 min (about 6.3 hours) of life expectancy,” they continued.
RELATED: 112-Year-Old Woman Reveals What She Eats Every Day for Longevity (And What She Doesn’t Eat).
Researchers hope the results will draw awareness to physical activity.
The latest analysis adds to the mounting research showing that more movement typically leads to healthier people and, in turn, longer lives. The researchers hope their findings will help the public realize that they can achieve significant health goals by simply increasing their physical activities.
“This is not an unreasonable prospect, as 25 percent of the population is already doing it,” Lennert Veerman, PhD, the study’s lead author and a professor of public health at Griffith University, said in a press release. “It can be any type of exercise [to reach that top quartile] but would roughly be the equivalent of just under three hours of walking per day.”
The takeaway.
New research found that the least active people could significantly extend their lives by adding an hour of walking to their schedule each day.
“If there’s something you could do to more than halve your risk of death, physical activity is enormously powerful,” Veerman said in the press release. “If we could increase investment in promoting physical activity and creating living environments that promote it such as walkable or cyclable neighbourhoods and convenient, affordable public transport systems, we could not only increase longevity but also reduce pressure on our health systems and the environment.”