A research to assess the link between fitness and mortality has shown that daily exercise dramatically lowers men's death rates.
The study, which included 15,660 participants, found that highly fit men had half the risk of death compared to low fit men.
Men who achieved very highly fit levels had a 70 percent lower risk of death compared to those in the low fit category.
"Our findings show that the risk of death is cut in half with an exercise capacity that can easily be achieved by a brisk walk of about 30 minutes per session 5-6 days per week," said Professor Peter Kokkinos, lead author of the study.
"The study provides us with an unique opportunity to assess the impact of exercise or physical activity on death without the influence of healthcare differences," said Kokkinos, director of the Exercise Testing and Research Laboratory in the Cardiology Department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, DC
According to him, most middle-aged and older individuals can attain fitness levels with a brisk walk, 30 minutes per day, five to six days each week.
Increased exercise capacity reduces the risk of death in African-American and Caucasian men, the researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Professor Kokkinos and colleagues investigated exercise capacity as an independent predictor of overall mortality for African-American men (6,749) and Caucasian men (8,911) and also examined whether racial differences in exercise capacity influence the risk of death, the Science Daily online reported on Thursday.
The men under study were followed for an average of 7.5 years and death rates were recorded.