More Exercise Good Shocker

The good old national media love anything that suggests exercise might be bad for you or of limited benefit, so it's nice to see that recent research suggests that when it comes to combatting heart disease and cholestrol, more actually is more...

Specifically, researchers at Duke University in Northern Carolina found that you need to take exercise equivalent to a 20-miles worth of jogging every week to make a significant impact on cholestrol levels. Jogging 12 miles a week is less good for you and being a fat, desk-hugging journo is almost certainly worst of all.

So what does it mean? Well, the fatter you are, the more it will benefit you. But also you don't necessarily have to lose weight to benefit from exercise in terms of pure cholestrol reduction, although obviously, carrying less weight is going to make your life easier, particularly when it comes to walking up hills.

And why are we telling you this? Erm, it's a slow news day and we thought you might like to feel smug.

Full story on the Reuters site, with more scientific gobbledygook.