Just 10 minutes of light physical activity can lower death risk in older men, ANI News reports citing a new study.

Researchers have said that the overall volume of activity is key, rather than the sessions of at least 10 minutes.

Current exercise guidelines recommend accumulating at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity in bouts lasting 10 or more minutes. But such a pattern is not always easy for older adults to achieve, say the researchers.

To find out if other patterns of activity might still contribute to lowering the risk of death, the researchers drew on data from the British Regional Heart Study.

This involved 7735 participants from 24 British towns, who were aged between 40 and 59 when the study stated in 1978-80.

In 2010-12, the 3137 survivors were invited for a check-up, which included a physical examination, and questions about their lifestyle, sleeping patterns, and whether they had ever been diagnosed with heart disease.

They were also asked to wear an accelerometer--a portable gadget that continuously tracks the volume and intensity of physical activity--during waking hours for 7 days. Their health was then tracked until death or June 2016, whichever came first.

In all, 1566 (50%) men agreed to wear the device, but after excluding those with pre-existing heart disease and those who hadn't worn their accelerometer enough during the 7 days, the final analysis was based on 1181 men, whose average age was 78.

During the monitoring period, which averaged around 5 years, 194 of the men died.

The accelerometer findings indicated that total volume of physical activity, from light intensity upwards, was associated with a lower risk of death from any cause.