Just TWO MINUTE bursts of exercise each day is enough to prevent an early death

Just two minutes of vigorous exercise each day may be enough to reduce your risk of dying young, research suggests.

And experts say you don’t even have to do anything too intense.

Just walking up the stairs, running in the garden or skipping is enough, they claim.

Scientists from the University of Sydney analyzed data from more than 70,000 Britons, tracking their level of exercise over a week and their health over the next seven years.

The results showed that people who did just 15 minutes of vigorous activity a week – or 2m 9s a day – were 18 per cent less likely to die during the study period.

This was compared to those who did just two minutes a week.

Lead author Dr. Matthew Ahmadi said: “The results show that accumulating vigorous activity in short bursts throughout the week can help us live longer.

“Given that lack of time is the most commonly reported barrier to regular physical activity, accumulating small amounts periodically throughout the day may be a particularly attractive option for busy people.”

NHS guidelines suggest that adults should get 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, spread over four to five days.

Examples of vigorous exercise include running, swimming, skipping and stair climbing.

Each study participant, who averaged 60 years of age and was almost evenly split by gender, wore a wrist-based activity tracker for a week to measure their total a time of vigorous activity.

This data was then compared with rates of death or diseases such as heart disease or cancer.

Results published in European Heart Journal showed that people who did no vigorous activity had a 4% overall risk of dying in the next five years.

More than 42 million UK adults will be overweight or obese by 2040, Cancer Research UK projects

That risk was halved to just 2 percent for those who worked out for 10 minutes a week, and to just 1 percent for those who worked out for an hour a week.

But the scientists say the most interesting finding was related to the smallest bouts of vigorous activity per day.

But more was still better.

For example, those who worked with those who worked 53 minutes a week, about seven and a half minutes a day, had a 36 percent lower chance of dying within five years compared to those who worked two minutes a week.

The health benefits of regular exercise have been well established for decades.

Staying fit can prevent obesity and its side effects on health, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. It can also improve bone strength and mental well-being.

However, a May study by Essex researchers found that only one in 20 adults in England get the recommended amount of exercise per week.

A lack of exercise combined with an unhealthy diet has been blamed for the growing obesity epidemic in the UK.

The latest data shows that 64 percent of adults are overweight, and more of us are expected to gain weight in the future.

Obesity not only adds to Britons’ waistlines, but also healthcare costs, with the NHS spending around £6.1bn between 2014 and 2015 on treating weight-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

In the United States, it is estimated that 73.6 percent of adults are either overweight or obese.