A 10 minute walk a day could add a year to your life – study finds

Professor Tom Yates

A longer, healthier life could be as little as a ten-minute walk away, according to the findings of a new study conducted by researchers funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at the University of Leicester and Leicester Diabetes Centre (LDC).

The findings of the study, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, suggest that adding the equivalent of a ten-minute brisk walk to the daily routine for inactive men and women aged 60 and above was associated with a noticeable increase in life expectancy.

The study was carried out by comparing findings from existing studies on the UK Biobank medical database. Data from 40,953 women (with an average age of 61.9 years) and 30,820 men (average age of 63.1) were included in this analysis, taken from studies where physical activity had been objectively measured by an accelerometer worn on participants' wrists. This was then analysed to provide life expectancy statistics.

Professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Health at the University of Leicester and Leicester Diabetes Centre, Tom Yates, said: “In this large sample size we observed that for an inactive 60 year old, adding the equivalent of a daily ten-minute brisk walk was linked to an average of 0.9 extra years lived for women and 1.4 years for inactive men.

“Adding a daily 30-minute brisk walk was linked to an extra 1.4 years lived in women and 2.5 years in men.”

The findings also suggested that extra years of life can be gained by increasing the overall amount of physical activity done (e.g. walking for longer) or the intensity of physical activity undertaken (e.g. converting a slow walk into a brisk walk), but that the greatest gains were achieved by doing both.

Doctor Francesco Zaccardi, Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Data Science at the NIHR Leicester BRC and co-lead author on the study added: “This study adds to the evidence that habitual daily physical activity is a powerful determinant of health and longevity.

“Our hope is that these findings will lead to public health messaging promoting the importance of small regular additions of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity in adults who are currently inactive.

“We recommended public health bodies undertake campaigns which focus on ten minutes of brisk walking a day. A small change really can make a significant difference.”

The NIHR Leicester BRC is part of the NIHR and hosted by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in partnership with the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and the University Hospitals of the Northamptonshire NHS Group.