Brisk Walk For 15-Minutes May Help Lower Death Risk In Older Adults

Older adults can lower their risk of dying by just walking for around 15 minutes in a day. These are the findings of a new study conducted by a team of researchers at the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, France.

Even though the NHS recommends at least two and a half hours of moderate exercising per week for older adults to maintain an optimum health, the latest study suggests that just 15-minute of brisk walking per day is enough to experience substantial health benefits.

During the 12-year study period, the researchers found that just 15-minute of exercise a day can help lower the death rate by 22 percent in older adults. This is still beneficial and more practical as compared to those who followed the NHS guidelines and ended up lowering their risk of death by just 35 percent.

In addition to brisk walking, pensioners can try their hands on gardening, cycling or tennis to lower their risk of dying early. The study findings are especially important for people who give up exercising because they are not able to meet the guidelines. But the researchers say that even little exercising can go a long way when it comes to the health benefits.

For older adults, 15 minutes of exercising per day could an achievable target. Once they are set with the 15-minute requirement, they can opt to increase the duration of moderate exercising to reap more health benefits and approach the target set by the NHS, which is 150 minutes per week.

During the study, the researchers looked at lifestyle and exercising habits of more than 123,000 people to see what impact it has on the mortality rate. The study continued for almost 12 years.

Compared to those older adults who did not engage in any physical activity and remained active, those with low, medium and moderate activity levels had 22 percent, 28 percent and 35 percent reduced risk of death, respectively.