WALK YOUR WAY TO A LONGER LIFE

HOW much should you exercise? Expert guidelines recommend 150 minutes (two-and-a-half hours) of moderate activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity spread across the week, plus exercise to improve muscle strength on at least two days a week.

Walking for 150 minutes a week appears to reduce your overall mortality rate by 7% com- pared with being sedentary — but walking for 300 minutes a week reduces it by twice as much: 14%. Even better, an hour-long walk each day may reduce mortality by 24%.

An overall survey of studies found that 90 minutes’ walking a day was better still. And more than 90 minutes? So few people exercise that much, there weren’t enough studies to decide.