Melbourne: As little as 15 minutes of exercise everyday can extend your life by as much as three years, a new research has found.
Taiwanese researchers examined more than 400,000 study participants in a 12-year period, where patients self-reported their weekly exercise regimen and were then placed in one of five groups: inactive, low, medium, high or very high exercise activity.
The study found that people in the low-exercise group, who spent 15 minutes on fitness per day, reduced their risk of dying from cancer by 10 percent and had a three-year longer life expectancy than the inactive group.
“The 30-minute a day for five or more days a week has been the golden rule for the last 15 years, but now we found even half that amount could be very beneficial,” ABC News quoted Dr Chi-Pang Wen, lead author of the study, as saying.
With every additional 15 minutes of exercise per day, participants reduced their risk of dying from cancer by another 1 percent, the research found.
Researchers found the benefits went on growing for up to 100 minutes of exercise a day.
Men and women of all ages shared the benefits, including those at risk of heart disease.
The research report said: “If inactive individuals engage in low-volume daily exercise, one in six all-cause deaths could be postponed.”