When it comes to exercising on a daily basis, sixty is the new thirty.

According to a recent Harvard Medical School study, women now need to exercise 60 minutes a day to avoid gaining weight in middle age. Paired with a normal diet, these extra minutes can prevent those unwanted pounds that seem to pile on with each passing year.

I-Min Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at HMS and the study’s head researcher, notes that the exercise doesn’t have to be vigorous. Walking, light biking, and babysitting are all sufficient ways to get blood flowing.

While students at Harvard have a long way until their fifties, exercise has its benefits now. After all, even college students can attest to unwanted weight gain. Freshman fifteen, anyone? With classes, extra-curriculars, and jobs, it can be difficult to squeeze another hour into our already over-crowded schedules.

For those of us who aren’t dedicated enough to head to the gym every single day, perhaps moving to the quad is another option (more distance to classes maybe?).

Photo courtesy of Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia Commons.