According to experts, this level of resistance exercise can lower the risk of dying from any cause by 13% and from conditions such as heart disease and stroke by 19%.

The benefits are even more striking for neurological diseases, with a 27% lower risk observed among those who regularly engage in strength training.

The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, tracked 147,374 people (31,540 men and 115,834 women) for up to 30 years.

The simple exercise that will help you live longer

Participants reported their strength training and aerobic activity every two years.

Strength training included exercises using weights or body weight, such as dumbbell work, squats and lunges.

Aerobic exercise included brisk walking, running, jogging, swimming, cycling, tennis and squash.

The best outcomes were seen in individuals who combined high levels of both aerobic and strength training, with risk reductions of up to 58% among the most active.

Adults are advised to do muscle-strengthening activities that target all major muscle groups – legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms – on at least two days each week.

Tom Burton, strategic lead for health and wellbeing policy at Sport England, said: “Strength-based physical activity is a powerful tool, particularly in support of healthy ageing – helping prevent or delay poor health, keeping us mobile and independent and easing pressures on overstretched health and care services.

“Sport England research has found that active lifestyles prevent 3.3 million cases of chronic illness a year, as well as saving £8 billion a year for healthcare services.

“Our mission is to make physical activity accessible to all – it’s the key to healthier, wealthier and happier communities.”

The NHS also recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity per week.

Recommended Reading

Moderate activities include very brisk walking (at 4mph or faster), cycling at 10mph-12mph, or badminton.

Vigorous options include jogging (at 6mph or faster), fast cycling, basketball, tennis, or hiking.

Researchers said the results reinforce the importance of including strength training alongside aerobic exercise for overall health and longevity.

They noted that while up to two hours of weekly strength training is beneficial, exceeding this amount does not appear to offer additional gains in reducing early mortality risk.

What weekly exercises do you do? Let us know in the comments.

The path, which runs behind homes adjacent to Gavray Drive and between Mallards Way, is regularly used by dog walkers and is known locally for its wildlife.

Sandra Williams, who walks her dogs down the path daily, heard chainsaws and chippers from near her home, just off of the path, on Wednesday, May 27.

A Blue Tit bird which Sandra Williams says was displaced after the trees were felled (Image: Sandra Williams)

After the operation she noticed a sudden influx of distressed young birds take shelter in her garden.

READ MORE: Will trains ever run on £1.3bn long-awaited East West Rail line from Oxford?

“I had loads of flustered juvenile birds landing on my fences and bushes,” she said, explaining that their garden, which includes feeders and nest boxes, appeared to become a refuge during the disturbance.

Among them was a young blue tit, which flew into a window and was temporarily stunned. The resident was able to safely move the bird to a nearby tree, where it later recovered and flew away.

The felled trees on a path near Gavray Drive (Image: Sandra Williams)

She said: “Luckily I managed to scoop it up and after a short while, popped it into my Magnolia tree where it recovered itself and eventually flew off.”

She believes some of the trees removed were more than 30 years old, based on the size of the remaining stumps.

Photos shared show a stark contrast between one side of the pathway, which remains untouched, and the other, which has been described as “completely butchered”.

Concerns have also been raised about the loss of privacy for nearby homes and the potential long-term impact on local wildlife, including birds and squirrels.

The felled trees on a path near Gavray Drive (Image: Sandra Williams)

She added: “You can hear the number of birds that live in this alleyway – their undeniable tweetering is proof.

“If the rest of this pathway is scheduled for such drastic coppicing, it will be a disaster for the local birds and squirrels that live there.”

READ MORE: Chopstix opens at M40 services near Bicester after refurb

Someone who wants to fell trees on public land will need to apply for a felling licence from the Forestry commission. This is not the case on private land, such as in a garden, unless it is a protected tree under a preservation order.

While cutting trees in England during peak bird nesting season in the spring and summer months is not illegal, it becomes an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act if a wild bird is intentionally killed or injured or their nests and eggs are damaged or destroyed.

Oxfordshire County Council and Cherwell District Council and said its teams were not responsible for the work, with the latter redirecting their enquiries to Bicester Town Council.

A response from the town council is still awaited.

The vaccine group, at the University of Oxford, is targeting the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus, which is rapidly spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

The rare species of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Bundibugyo, has no proven vaccine and kills 30 to 50 per cent of those infected.

READ MORE: Oxford University building to have makeover to restore ‘original splendour’

A health worker gets ready to start their shift at the Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Friday, May 29 (Image: AP)

Bundibugyo has only caused two previous outbreaks, in Uganda in 2007 and then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012.

The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is using the same technology that underpinned the Covid jab to develop a new vaccine for the specific strain of Ebola virus in the current outbreak.

Professor Teresa Lambe OBE, Calleva head of vaccine immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group and Pandemic Sciences Institute, said: “We are hopeful that through a coordinated global effort, we will be able to curb this outbreak and stop this virus in its tracks.”

READ MORE: Popular burger van told ‘improvement necessary’ by food hygiene inspectors

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center right, visits the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31 (Image: AP)

The outbreak – declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) by the World Health Organisation and Africa CDC, respectively – has already caused more than 900 suspected cases and more than 220 suspected deaths.

Five patients have recovered from the virus, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Sunday during a visit to a city at the heart of an outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Britain will provide up to £20 million to contain the outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.