The study: 

The study used the current governmental guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week as the baseline for the study. Then, numerous universities, including Harvard and the National Cancer Institute, pooled data with information on the exercise habits of 661,000 adults, most of whom were middle-aged. Using this data, researchers organized the adults by their weekly exercise time ranging from those who didn’t exercise at all, to those who exercised up to 10 times the current recommendation of 150 minutes a week. They then compared 14 years’ worth of data.

The findings:

• Predictably, people who did not exercise at all were at the highest risk for early death.
• Those who did not meet government guidelines, but exercised a little, decreased their risk of premature death by 20 percent.
• When compared to those who never exercised, those who met the guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly lowered their risk of premature death by 31 percent during the 14-year period.
• The sweet spot for exercise benefits came to those who performed three times the recommended weekly amount of exercise, reaching around 7.5 hours of moderate exercise a week. This group of people was 39 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who never exercised. Generally, these people took long walks every day.
• After that, the benefits of exercising hit a plateau. So even if you exercise 20 hours a week, those additional hours won’t give your life expectancy a huge boost – but they also won’t increase your risk for premature death. 

If you’re wanting to add some years to your life, it’s probably a good idea to lace up those tennis shoes and start walking everyday. Start out slowly, and then increase the speed and duration of your walk. Before you know it, you’ll start enjoying the health benefits that come with a more active lifestyle.