14 DAY TRIAL // Being overweight or obese has many times been shown to up people's risk of early death, but as it turns out, folks of a normal weight aren't safe from a meeting with the Grim Reaper while still in their young years either.
On the contrary, a recent paper in the American Journal of Clinical Exercise argues that, according to evidence at hand, guys and gals who are neither too plump nor too skinny can too die at an early age, provided that they double as couch potatoes.
That's right, it appears that lack of exercise ups the risk of early death regardless of one's weight. In fact, scientists say that being a couch potato appears to cause twice as many early deaths annually than obesity does.
As detailed in the American Journal of Clinical Exercise, this is because folks who spend most of the time sitting or lying in their bed, neatly tucked between their sheets, are more likely to develop cancer or heart disease.
The good news is that, apparently, all it takes to reduce the risk of early death is to take a 20-minute walk each and every day. True, jogging or going to the gym probably works better, but such activities somehow sound less appealing.
As far as that 20-minute daily walk is concerned, it looks like this very simple exercise routine can reduce the risk of premature death by about 16%, maybe even as much as 30%.
“This is a simple message: just a small amount of physical activity each day could have substantial health benefits for people who are physically inactive,” said researcher Ulf Ekelund with the University of Cambridge in the UK, as cited by Science Daily.
“Although we found that just 20 minutes would make a difference, we should really be looking to do more than this – physical activity has many proven health benefits and should be an important part of our daily life,” he added.