A study has proven how impactful one simple activity can be on your lifespan, adding an average of five years to your life.
With Thanksgiving and Christmas looming, it's natural to want to tuck yourself up inside, stick a movie on every night, and not do much else. However, if you needed the motivation to get up and out, there's one - extraordinarily simple - daily activity a study has revealed could add between five to 10 years onto your lifespan. And you don't even technically have to leave your house.
The study
Off the back of a life table of the 2019 American population based on mortality data from the National Centre for Health Statistics from 2017, the study - published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine - looked at how life expectancy differed depending on different levels of physical activity.
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Physical activity was measured by people aged 40 or over wearing a 'hip-worn accelerometer' - activity-tracking devices similar to your smartwatch - for at least 10 hours on four days or longer.
The study notes: "Average physical activity levels by age (40 - 49.9, …, 80+ years) were applied to the US Statistics Bureau’s 2019 American population data to estimate the benefits of an hour of walking, a common and typical physical activity behaviour."
But what benefits does an hour of walking every day really have on life expectancy predictions?
The results
Well, the study revealed in 2017, the average life expectancy in the US was 78.6 years and if all Americans aged 40 and above in 2017 were 'as active as the least active 25 per cent there would be a loss in life expectancy of 5.8 years'.
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However, if all Americans over the age of 40 were 'as active as the top 25 percent of the population' then their life expectancy at birth would be 83.7 years which 'is an increase of 5.3 years'.
And should you walk for 160 minutes every day? Well, then your life expectancy could increase 'up to 10.9 years'.
Oh and the study notes: "Each additional single hour of physical activity would prolong life by an average of 169.1 min."
The benefits
Professor of public health in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Griffith University in Australia and senior study author Dr. Lennert Veerman told CNN he was 'surprised to find that the loss of life years in the USA due to low levels of physical activity might rival the losses due to smoking and high blood pressure'.
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The World Health Organization notes: "Regular physical activity provides significant physical and mental health benefits.
"In adults, physical activity contributes to prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes and reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhances brain health, and can improve overall well-being.
"In children and adolescents, physical activity promotes bone health, encourages healthy growth and development of muscle, and improves motor and cognitive development."
So, there you have it. At least we're not advising you to go on a full-scale run eh?
Poppy Bilderbeck