If you’re having a detox salad while reading this and thinking you can avoid your evening exercise session, then you’re very wrong. It’s a matter of life and death.
A study conducted of over 300,000 Europeans found that lack of exercise is twice as likely to kill you as obesity. And the researchers of the study suggest that a brisk 20-minute daily walk could be all it takes to avoid premature death.
This study reviewed the people on the basis of observing them over a period of 12 years and found that those who engaged in moderate levels of daily exercise – equivalent to taking an energetic 20-minute walk — were 16 percent to 30 percent less likely to die than those classified as inactive.
Although the impact of exercise was greatest among normal weight individuals, even those with high Body Mass Index (BMI) levels saw a benefit. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared and is a standard tool used to assess whether someone is overweight or obese.
Overall, avoiding inactivity theoretically reduced the risk of death from any cause by 7.35%, explained the scientists in the study. The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
