Just 30 minutes of physical activity, of light or vigorous intensity, six days a week leads to a 40 per cent lower risk of death from any cause, according to a new study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The study’s authors suggest that this amount of exercise is as good for health as quitting smoking among this age group.

Researchers have based their results on people taking part in the Oslo Study – a research project that involved a health check for 15,000 men born between 1923 and 1932. Their height, weight, cholesterol and blood pressure were all assessed and they were asked whether they smoked. They also categorised their physical activity levels as either sedentary, moderate or vigorous.

Some 6,000 of the surviving participants repeated the process in 2000 – in a study called Oslo II – and they were monitored for almost 12 years to see if physical activity level was associated with a lowered risk of death from any cause over time.

More than one hour a week of light physical activity was linked to a 32 to 56 per cent lower risk during the 11-year study. Less than one hour of vigorous physical activity was linked to a reduction in risk of 23 per cent and 37 per cent for cardiovascular disease and death from any cause, according to the data.

The more time spent doing vigorous exercise, the lower the risk appeared to be – falling by between 36 per cent and 49 per cent.

Men who regularly engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity during their leisure time lived five years longer, on average, than those who were classified as sedentary.