Experts say a healthy life means balanced diet and good physical exercise. However age lessens the enthusiasm for exercise with the result that a sedentary life is an open invitation to overweight, obesity and related health issues. The present study by Dr. Timothy Church and colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center says you do not have to follow a rigorous exercise regime to stay fit.

Only 72 minutes of exercise or just about 10 minutes per day is enough to get your blood flowing faster. Cardiovascular fitness is paramount in ensuring protection from heart disease and consequently death. Sedentary life means people become inactive and quickly put on weight. This is especially contraindicated in older people.

Obesity is linked to the so-called lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, heart disease, poor self-esteem, and a lower health-related quality of life.

One of the main reasons for not exercising is lack of time. However the present study published in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, says that you need not have a strenuous workout. Jus getting up on your feet might do the trick.

Around 464 women took part in the study called the DREW trial (Dose Response to Exercise in postmenopausal Women). All women were postmenopausal and led a sedentary life besides being overweight or obese. They were made to undergo at least 15 minutes of physical activity each day. The exercise schedule was drawn up based on the recommendations issued by the NIH Consensus Panel physical activity.

The researchers put into effect 50 percent, 100 percent, and 150 percent of the recommendations meaning the women were asked to walk for 75 minutes, 150 minutes and 225 minutes per week.

Walking for these set times improved the stamina of the women causing them to lose unwanted abdominal fat, the researchers said. "Weight that is in the belly or abdomen puts you at high risk for diabetes, for cholesterol problems, for hypertension problems.  So it is an exciting result," Dr Church said.

However the researchers admitted the study was limited because it examined the effect of exercise in certain specific set of women. They do not know if this regime would produce the same results in other women or even in men.

But still some activity is better than a sedentary life because obesity is exploding to be a worldwide scrounge. A balanced diet is no doubt important, but exercise and maintaining an active profile is also important especially in the aged because muscles are no longer flexible and do not respond quickly. Therefore maintaining elasticity of the muscles requires that you exercise regularly. 72 minutes of exercise per week even if it is as minor as walking is certainly a good beginning.