Here’s proof that even a bit of exercise is better than nothing

A 12-year study found that exercising just 15 minutes a day can make a big difference in the health of older adults, but 150 minutes is the ideal.

All the tips and workouts out there can be overwhelming. We get it.

But you don’t have to be a super ripped animal as you get older like say, J.K. Simmons, to be healthy. All you need is a brisk 15-minute walk a day to substantially reduce your risk of early death, according to a large European study.

The European Society of Cardiology study followed two cohorts of people – a group of 1,011 French people aged 65 for 12 years and 122, 417 subjects aged 60 for about a decade.

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Compared to those who were inactive, the participants who did low physical activity – things like walking, weeding the garden, playing tennis or biking – reduced their risk of early death by 22%. Those who did moderate activity lowered their risk of death by 28% and those who who did high intensity activity reduced their risk by 35%. The benefits maxed out at two hours and thirty minutes of moderate activity per week.

“Age is not an excuse to do no exercise,” said David Hupin of the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne in Saint-Etienne, France. “It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment. But less than half of older adults achieve the recommended minimum of 150 minutes moderate intensity or 75 minutes vigorous intensity exercise each week.”

“Fifteen minutes a day could be a reasonable target for older adults,” Hupin added. “Small increases in physical activity may enable some older adults to incorporate more moderate activity and get closer to the recommended 150 minutes per week.”

The lesson here is that it’s never too late to exercise, and every little bit counts. In fact, you might even be able to get away with 10 minutes a day – the researchers found even those 600 seconds added some health benefit.

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