A newly published study linking even moderate amounts of exercise to longevity is making headlines this morning. The study, published in The Lancet, asserts that even 15 minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking or taking the stairs, can boost life expectancy and cut death risk measurably. Fifteen minutes was actually cited as the bare minimum in the study; many other healthcare authorities recommend at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day to maintain good health. On the opposite end, the sedentary cough potato lifestyle can cut life expectancy by as much as five years. In other words, if you want to live longer, you've got to move around a bit every day.
Well, duh!
While this type of study is always helpful in affirming the benefits of exercise and encouraging people to get off their rear ends, I have to wonder: Is there really anyone in the developed world who doesn't know that exercise is good for you? Anyone who isn't aware that moving around, walking, being even slightly active can help you live longer by lowering your risk of about a thousand different ailments and conditions?
It's a sad commentary on our modern lifestyle when researchers are recommending just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day to stay reasonably healthy. Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes in your entire day is nothing! How are people not getting fifteen minutes of exercise? You could even split that up into two or three smaller bursts. How is this not achievable by everyone?
Do the math: There are 1440 minutes in a day, approximately 480 (eight hours) of which are spent sleeping. (And I would wager that many people get less sleep than that most nights.) That leaves 960 minutes during the day when you are, supposedly, to some degree, awake. Nine hundred and sixty! Who can't spare a measly 15 of those minutes every day to move around a bit? Are there really people for whom this is such a challenge? Or for whom this will be news? If so, I am slightly flabbergasted.
If you are one of those people who can't seem to work in 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day, here are some suggestions that don't require special workout gear and won't even make you sweaty:
- Walk to/from the grocery store or drug store or your local restaurant
- Park your car as far away from the entrance to any building as possible
- Get off the subway or bus one or two stops early
- When you're watching TV in the evening, go up and down the stairs during the commercials
- If you don't have stairs or they make you too winded, just march in place while you're watching TV
- Pick three or four of your favorite songs and dance around the living room to them before you make dinner
- Do jumping jacks while you're waiting for food to heat up in the microwave
- Take a walk around the building or block on your lunch break at work
- Mow the lawn and/or do some yard work
- Always take the stairs if you're going to any floor that's lower than the fourth
- When you go to Target/Wal-Mart/the mall, speed-walk one or two laps around the store before you start your shopping
Here's to more movement and longer lives!