Why a walk around the block could literally save your life |
A new study says as little as 5 minutes of moderate exercise can lead to a meaningful reduction in mortality. | Getty Images
The Olympics offer a fascinating window into the diets and workout routines of some of the world’s finest athletes, and it would be easy to feel inadequate in the face of these examples of the human body’s awesome potential.
We tend to gravitate to extraordinary outliers, like the athletes in the Winter Games. Lindsay Vonn’s maniacal pursuit of Olympic glory, skiing on a torn ACL only to crash and break her femur, is treated as aspirational. If you’re not pushing yourself to the absolute limit, then what’s the point? One way to interpret the enormous gaps between the share of Americans who say exercising more is important and the share who actually get enough exercise is that people become daunted by what they think is necessary — and give up.
But we shouldn’t think that way. In fact, a major new study should reframe how we think about physical activity and our health.
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