Physical activity adds between 1.3 and 1.7 years to the life expectancy, a study carried out by the University Medical Center Rotterdam says.

They used data from the Framingham Heart Study, a cohort study that has followed 5,209 residents of Framingham, Mass., over the past 46 years.

The researchers calculated the effects of low, moderate or high levels of physical activity, adjusted for age, sex, smoking and coexistent diseases, including cancer, arthritis, diabetes, left ventricular hypertrophy, ankle edema and pulmonary disease.
"Moderate and high physical activity levels led to 1.3 and 3.7 years more in total life expectancy, and 1.1 and 3.2 more years lived without cardiovascular disease, respectively, for men aged 50 years or older compared with those who maintained a low physical activity level", Oscar H. Franco, leader of the research team said. Almost identical results were obtained for women.

Another study which looked at the type of walking that improves the cardiovascular system discovered that walking for 30 minutes five or more days a week, either moderately or briskly, improved cardiorespiratory fitness.