London: Exercise not just does miracles to our body, but also helps us to live a long life. A research has proven that by exercising for just 21 minutes a day can boost the lifespan by more than three years, the Independent reports.
According to the study, which was carried out on 6,600 people over 12 months, people who increased their activity levels to 150 minutes a week — about 21 minutes a day — saw their life expectancy increase by more than three years.
This is the current UK national guideline amount of exercise for adults, but if that seems unachievable, the researchers found that moving for just 90 or 60 minutes a week increased life spans by 2.7 years and 2.4 years respectively.
The researchers calculated their findings by analysing each participant’s “Vitality Age,” and it is an aggregate measure of wellness that evaluates the gap between physical body age and actual age.
The researchers were able to assess the impact of behaviour on life expectancy, by surveying participants before and after they made changes to their everyday behaviour.
As revealed by the participants, the main barriers preventing them from exercising were time constraints (31%), cost (21%) and not enjoying it (19%).
The objective of the survey was to make small changes like taking the stairs or standing for half an hour at work.
Exercise improves mental well-being, self-esteem, strength, fitness and motivation, but if those reasons aren’t enough to inspire to get moving, perhaps the prospect of adding three years on to our life will do the trick.
ANI