Getting lazy Brits to take just 5,000 steps three times a week ‘could save NHS £15 billion a year’
Getting inactive people to take just 5,000 steps three times a week could save the NHS £15 billion, new research shows.
Replacing a lazy lifestyle with moderate activity levels would make a significant difference to the country’s overall health, a study has found.
Research conducted by insurers Vitality and the London School of Economic suggests that taking up regular exercise can also add up to three years to life expectancy.
They mapped the behavior and habits of more than a million people in Britain and South Africa over a decade.
Replacing a lazy lifestyle with moderate activity levels would make a significant difference to the country’s overall health, a study has found. Research conducted by insurers Vitality and the London School of Economic suggests that taking up regular exercise can also contribute to life expectancy for up to three years
With around 35 percent of the UK population considered inactive, this is leading to declining health and an increase in non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, often resulting in hospital admissions.
They found that if half took 5,000 steps once a week, the reduction in hospital admissions could lead to an estimated annual saving of £4 billion for the NHS.
This rises to £15 billion if those who don’t do regular exercise started walking 5,000 steps three times a week, they said.
Large positive effects were observed across all age groups, but this was especially true for older generations.
There was a 52 percent reduction in mortality risk among people over 65 who regularly walked 7,500 steps three or more times a week, they found.
This was significantly greater than the 38 percent seen in the 45 to 65 age group and the 27 percent decline in the total population.
Maintaining a healthy physical activity habit – at least 5,000 steps three times a week for two years – can increase life expectancy by 2.5 years for men and 3 years for women, they found.
It also led to lower rates of type 2 diabetes and reduced the risk of death in those who already had it by 40 percent.
Professor Joan Costa-Font from the London School of Economics said: ‘The findings of this study are a clear call to action for policy makers to promote prevention in public health and build on the power of healthy habits to improve individual and collective health outcomes to improve.
‘Successful habit-based interventions can extend life expectancy, bring significant savings to public health services, improve productivity and help address the significant long-term challenges caused by mental health, social isolation and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and type 2 diabetes.’