Just 15 minutes of exercise a day can boost life expectancy by three years and cut death risk by 14%, according to new research published in The Lancet.

The study suggests this is the least amount of activity an adult can do to gain any health benefit and is about half the quantity currently recommended in the UK.

The Lancet study, based on a review of more than 400,000 people in Taiwan, showed 15 minutes per day or 90 minutes per week of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, can add three years to your life.

Furthermore, people who start to do more exercise tend to get a taste for it and up their daily quota, the researchers from the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, and China Medical University Hospital found.

More exercise led to further life gains with every additional 15 minutes of daily exercise further reducing death rates from all causes by 4%.

Professor Stuart Biddle, an expert in exercise psychology at Loughborough University and author of Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior, said a lot of people in the UK now fall into the category of inactive or sedentary.

He said that aiming for 30 minutes of exercise a day on pretty much every day of the week might seem too challenging for some, but starting low and building up could be achievable.

“You can get good gains with relatively small amounts of physical activity. More is always better, but less is a good place to start.”

Source: The Lancet