Brisk daily walks can increase lifespan, research says

Just 25 minutes of brisk walking a day can add up to seven years to your life, health experts have said. Researchers told the European Society of Cardiology congress that regular exercise could reduce ageing and increase the average lifespan.

Sanjay Sharma, professor of inherited cardiac diseases in sports cardiology at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in south London, said for the average person in their 50s and 60s, moderate exercise reduced the risk of dying from a heart attack by half.

“This study is very relevant. It suggests that when people exercise regularly they may be able to retard the process of ageing,” he said. “We may never avoid becoming completely old, but we may delay the time we become old. We may look younger when we’re 70 and may live into our 90s.

“Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an anti-depressant, it improves cognitive function and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset of dementia.”

He said exercise would bring benefits whatever a person’s age or condition and recommended everyone should be doing at least between 20 and 25 minutes of walking a day, involving brisk walking or slow jogging.

“If you know that something is 20 minutes away, try and walk it if you’ve got time and not take the bus,” he added. “People with a heart condition shouldn’t run but walk to a point where they can still speak - but they shouldn’t be able to sing. Following these simple directions is essential considering our sedentary lifestyles.”

The research was carried out by a team at Saarland University in Germany who introduced a group of non-exercising but otherwise healthy and non-smoking people to a staged exercise programme.

They showed that aerobic exercise, high intensity interval training (HIIT) and strength training all had a positive impact on markers of ageing. Endurance exercise and high intensity exercise may be more efficient than just lifting weights, as they further increase telomerase activity, which in turn helps to repair DNA as it gets old.

The researchers found that by measuring the increase of telomerase activity and the decrease of senescence marker p16 (both makers of cellular ageing in the blood) over a six-month period, doctors were able to show that regular exercise had triggered the anti-ageing process.

Even people who start exercising at the age of 70 were shown to be less likely to go on to develop atrial fibrillation, a rhythm disturbance that affects about 10% of people over 80.

“The study brings a bit more understanding of why physical activity has that effect,” said professor Christi Deaton from the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine. “It helps us understand the process of cellular ageing as that’s what drives our organ system and body ageing, and the effects physical activity can have on the cellular level.

“The more active you are, and it doesn’t matter when you start, the more benefit you are going to have. We recommend people who have cardiovascular disease or had myocardial infarction or heart failure to be physically active, because it’s beneficial for them, so there’s really no reason for healthy people not to exercise as well.”