JUST 13 minutes of exercise a day could slash the risk of early death from heart disease or dementia by up to 30 per cent, scientists say.

Any type of exercise is good for the health, but weight training could be particularly beneficial, new research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health showed.

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Consistently weight training could lower the risk of death Credit: Getty

People who strength trained had a lower risk of death from heart disease, as well as dementia Credit: Getty

The study of nearly 150,000 adults – which spanned 30 years – found that doing an hour and a half to two hours of strength training every week may lower the risk of death.

Ninety minutes spread across the week works out to about 13 minutes a day.

Strength training – also known as resistance training – is exercise aimed at building muscle, using weights, resistance bands or your own body weight.

The idea is to make your muscles work against a weight or force.

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People who did resistance training regularly and kept it up long term lowered their risk of early death from any cause by 13 per cent.

They had a 19 per cent lower risk of death from conditions such as heart disease and stroke, according to the study.

And they also had a 27 per cent lower risk of dying from neurological disease like dementia – even when other activity such as aerobic exercise was taken into account.

Overall, the lowest risk of early death was seen in people doing a decent amount of aerobic exercise and strength training, or who had very high levels of aerobic activity.

Researchers said their findings show that people should do aerobic exercise such as cycling, jogging and swimming, as well as weight-based training.

But doing more than two hours of strength training per week will not lead to extra benefits when it comes to mortality, they found.

Current NHS guidelines say adults should aim to do strength activities that work all the major muscle groups – in the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms – on at least two days per week.

This include weight lifting and resistance band work, as well as yoga, Pilates and tai chi.

Adults should also do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.

Examples of moderate activity include very brisk walking (4mph or faster), cycling at 10mph-12mph, or badminton.

Vigorous activity includes hiking, jogging at 6mph or faster, fast cycling, basketball or tennis.

The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, included 147,374 people (31,540 men and 115,834 women) followed for up to 30 years.

People were quizzed every two years on the amount of time they spent on strength training and aerobic exercise.

The average age of participants at the start of the study was 54.

Those who clocked up more strength training tended to be younger, weigh less, have a healthier lifestyle, and do more aerobic exercise than those who did no strength training.

Aerobic exercise in the study included brisk walking, running, jogging, swimming, cycling, tennis and squash, while strength training included exercises using weights or body weight, such as dumbbell work, squats and lunges.

The lowest risks were observed among those people with both high aerobic activity and strength training levels, with risks dropping by up to 58 per cent among the most active.

But it’s worth noting that this is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.

Researchers also acknowledged certain limitations to their study, including the fact that participants self-reported how much they exercised and didn’t give information on how long each exercise session lasted or how intense the strength training was.

Tom Burton, strategic lead for health and wellbeing policy at Sport England, said: “Strength-based physical activity is a powerful tool, particularly in support of healthy ageing – helping prevent or delay poor health, keeping us mobile and independent and easing pressures on overstretched health and care services.

“Sport England research has found that active lifestyles prevent 3.3 million cases of chronic illness a year, as well as saving £6bn a year for healthcare services.”