With the over-indulgence of Christmas out the way and a virtuous new year on the cards, it’s likely you’ve already considered lacing up your trainers, Yahoo Style UK reports.

If you do, fear not having to find time for a workout stretching up to an hour - or even longer.

A new study has shown that less than half-an-hour of exercise a day can benefit your health.

The research, published Journal of Clinical Oncology, found doing under 25 minutes of physical activity on a daily basis could ward off cancer.

More specifically, experts at the American Cancer Society discovered that to gain the protective perks you needed to clock up a total of two-and-a-half hours’ training a week.

This was linked to a reduced risk of seven forms of the disease – including breast, colon and kidney cancers.

The study, conducted in conjunction with Harvard University, looked at data from 750,000 participants.