Experts say any exercise is better than none

Scientists in Britain say even low levels of weekly exercise could help reduce blood pressure and improve fitness, and walking as little as three times a week could have health benefits.

Experts recommend walking for half an hour, five days a week as the minimum required to achieve any health benefits.

But the latest research from scientists in Northern Ireland suggests that walking on just three days a week offers similar benefits.

The researchers say their finding should encourage those with sedentary lifestyles to take up exercise gradually.

As few people currently meet the minimum recommendations for exercise, with many saying they do not have enough time, the findings could be encouraging.

The researchers at Queen's University, Belfast, looked at 106 healthy but sedentary civil servants aged between 40 and 61.

All the participants took part in a 12 week exercise programme with some 44 assigned to do 30 minutes of brisk walking five days a week, while 42 walked for just three days a week; and the rest did not change their lifestyles.

Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded how long they walked for.

The 93 people who completed the study had their blood pressure, weight and hip circumferences, and other indicators of fitness measured before and after the 12-week programme.

The researchers found there were no changes in the non-walking group, but in both walking groups there was a significant drop in blood pressure and waist and hip measurements.

All the walkers also had improved overall fitness and the researchers say the changes were enough to make a difference to an individual's risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Mark Tully, lead author of the study, says while exercising five days a week should still be the minimum goal, as it had greater positive effects on blood pressure, exercising three days a week may be a more achievable target to begin with for some and people would still benefit.

But he said more research was needed to assess the long-term effects of these levels of exercise.

Experts say that blood pressure can be lowered by even light exercise or simple activities, such as brisk walking, and doing any physical activity is better than doing none.

The study is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.