By Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
Published: 23:31 GMT, 19 March 2019 | Updated: 23:31 GMT, 19 March 2019
View
comments
Pottering around the garden in middle age lowers the risk of an early death, researchers have found.
Health officials have long advised people that the more exercise they do, the better for their health.
But experts are increasingly concerned that many people are put off by daunting guidelines that say everyone should do at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week.
Some 39 per cent of adults in the UK do not take this advice.
The new findings demonstrate as little as 10 minutes of moderate exercise a week is significantly better than nothing.
Pottering around the garden for ten minutes a week in middle age lowers the risk of an early death by 18 per cent, researchers have found
The study, for which 88,000 Americans aged 40 to 85 were tracked for an average of nine years, found that those who did between 10 and 60 minutes of activity a week - such as walking, gardening or dancing - were 18 per cent less likely to die the study period than those who did no exercise at all.
The authors, writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, stressed that doing more exercise sees the health benefits increase further - and those who hit the 150 minute guideline were 31 per cent less likely to die than those who were completely sedentary.
Those who clocked up ten times this amount - 1,500 minutes or 25 hours a week - had a 46 per cent lower risk of death.
But they said for many people