Five minutes of exercise a day could help millions of people live longer

Small increases in physical activity as part of our daily lives can bring long-term benefits to our health.

Some mornings, I really struggle to go out for a jog, but I force myself because I know it will be good for me. The protective effect that exercise can have not only the body, but our brain, memory and general wellbeing is something I've spoken to researchers a lot about recently.

But what has also become clear is that we don't need to be doing intense workouts to see benefits.

New research shows that even small increases in activity can have a powerful impact on health and longevity. Just five minutes of moderate activity each day – such as brisk walking, cycling or climbing stairs – could prevent around one in ten premature deaths, which could help millions of individuals live longer.

While this doesn't mean that just doing five minutes of exercise is enough to ensure you stay healthy, it is an indication that compared to doing nothing, this small increase in physical activity can bring improvements to overall health. For those who are already pretty active or relatively fit, doing five minutes more exercise will have a smaller effect.

But it shows the power of doing even just some very basic forms of exercise.

"Physical activity is something that is really beneficial for preventing high stress rates and high burnout rates," says Nicole Logan, an assistant professor of kinesiology from the University of Rhode Island in the US. "We know that physical function, muscle strength, muscle quality, bone strength, these are really good predictors of later life mortality. So living longer and living healthier for longer."

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The new research involved a large-scale analysis of data from 150,000 adults in the UK, US and Scandinavia.

"It was surprising that very small changes in physical activity of five minutes per day have such a large impact on reducing the risk for premature mortality," says Ulf Ekelund, lead author of the research and a professor of physical activity and health at the Norwegian School of Sport. The findings reveal the health benefits of doing five minutes of exercise across the whole population rather than on an individual level, he says.  

Adults should still strive for the World Health Organization's recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, Ekelund says. But the study shows that those who might struggle to go to the gym or join a sports club, can still benefit from adding more movement into their lives.

Reducing inactivity was also found to be beneficial. Cutting daily sitting time by 30 minutes was linked to a 7% reduction of early death across........

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