A short jog every day might be as good for your heart as running longer distances.

A team of researchers at Iowa State University studying more than 55,000 adults has found that as little as 5 to 10 minutes a day of running, even at slow speeds, may be enough to cut the risk of heart-related death.

The study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that people who run cut their risk of heart-related death by 45 per cent on average, even after other factors tied to heart-related death, were taken into account.