EXPERTS SHARE FIVE SIMPLE STEPS THAT CAN HELP LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE AND REDUCE STRESS

Experts have uncovered that getting your trainers on and moving about could be the secret to a longer life, as they list five activities that might add an extra 11 years to your lifespan.

The academics from Australia have discovered that something as straightforward as a daily stroll lasting an hour could tack on an additional six hours to your life each time. Meanwhile, those over 40 can look forward to potentially adding around five more years to their life by staying active for just 50 minutes a day.

The stats, crunched by scholar Lennert Veerman and showcased in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, indicate that individuals clocking in 160 minutes of movement per day could see a whopping 73 per cent reduction in the risk of kicking the bucket too soon. Veerman gathered his findings by strapping fitness trackers to the hips of 35,000 participants.

While Veerman points out that "any type of exercise" will do the trick, he notes that the "biggest benefits" are seen with activities equating to three hours of walking each day. Current UK health advice recommends aiming for about 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly.

This should be spread across four or five days, according to The Times. Topping up with some muscle-strengthening exercises a couple of times a week is also a boon for keeping shipshape, reports Surrey Live.

Veerman quipped: "Physical activity, not just hard exercise, lowers blood pressure, which reduces risks of heart disease and stroke and other cardiovascular disease. It can reduce stress levels, which may improve immune responses, and it improves mood, which may prevent suicide and coping with the use of alcohol and other drugs, which have knock-on effects on health behaviours."

The health guru insists that there's no need to sweat it out in the gym or punish your body with marathons to up your activity levels. He believes that simply moving more during the day can be "enormously powerful" and is widely "vastly underestimated".

His fellow scholar Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney, outlines five nifty activities guaranteed to slash the risk of shuffling off this mortal coil too soon. These tips include short bursts of vigorous vigour for 60-120 seconds, taken 3/4 times daily; hoofing it up the stairs without fail; gradually beefing up the activity level; marching briskly for a minimum of ten minutes each day; and biking for an hour per week.

Stamatakis advocates ramping up what he calls "vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity", doing things like legging it to snag your bus, zooming up and down steps, or cranking up the pace for a couple of speed sprints during a casual ten-minute walkabout. He declared: "Doing 60-120 seconds bursts of Vilpa for a total of 4.4 minutes a day had a dramatic effect on health outcomes."

However, scholars have discovered that plunging directly into physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle can also pose its own problems. Veerman advises starting slowly and gradually increasing the intensity over time.

2024-12-17T14:20:13Z