Exercise is Good for you - Get Up and Get Moving

No matter how far the science goes, though, there’s one finding that will remain indisputable: any amount of exercise is better than none.

Members of a California runners club over the age of 50 who ran for about four hours a week dramatically reduced their likelihood of disability later in life compared with a control group who ran an average of 20 minutes per week. And the controls had a death rate three times higher than the runners during the study’s 13-year follow-up.

If you’re not bounding off the couch by now, consider two more pieces of data: a recent Stanford study of more than 6,000 men found that tolerance for exercise (tested on a treadmill) was a stronger predictor of risk of death than high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. And, finally, in the study of 73,743 women, just sitting for longer periods of time predicted an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The more exercise the better, at least up to an hour a day, but any exercise is better than none.