Working up a sweat could be the secret to living longer.

Image: iStock.

When anyone talks about working up a sweat, Salt N Pepa’s “Push It” immediately starts playing in my head and I have to physically stop myself from dancing like a very uncoordinated wannabe rapper.

That probably tells you a lot about how much I exercise (i.e not often, aside from random bursts of dancing) but turns out Salt N Pepa might have been onto something.

Yes, a new study has found that “Workin’ up a sweat” during exercise is the key to living longer. Nice.

Unfortunately that means unless you're seriously speed walking up a mountain, those walks you were doing to keep fit? Not doing you as much good as you thought.

The Australian study looked at the data of more than 200,000 Australians over the age of 45, and found a correlation between vigorous exercise and lower risk of mortality.

For the purpose of the study, vigorous activity was defined as "anything that increases your heart rate and breathing a lot and caused you to sweat. On a scale of one to 10, where 10 was your absolute limit, anything around seven or eight counted as vigorous".

The good news is that even the smallest amount of sweat-inducing exercise can make a difference.

Study author Klaus Gebel said the research shows people who regularly did vigorous exercise were up to 13 per cent less likely to die prematurely than those who did just moderate exercise.

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Even if less than a third of your exercise is vigorous (ahem, my fitness routine), you could see a nine per cent decrease in the risk of early death. (Post continues after gallery.)

"If you think of people who maybe so far have only been doing some walking, it could make a significant difference if on top of that they maybe have something like 20 to 30 minutes per week, not necessarily a lot, of doing something vigorous that makes them sweat and significantly increases their breathing rate," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The results of the study support the growing popularity of high intensity interval training, which encourages short, sharp bursts rather than long periods of exercise.

The research team also pointed to studies that indicated vigorous exercise could be up to four times as beneficial as moderate exercise.

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"Because vigorous activity is more time efficient in achieving health benefits than moderate activity, promoting vigorous activity might be particularly fruitful for those for whom insufficient time is a major barrier," they wrote in JAMA Internal Medicine.

However people who have medical conditions or have never done vigorous activity are advised to consult a doctor or exercise professional before jumping straight in.

That's not the only thing sweat is good for either - it can also boost endorphins, detoxify your body, help prevent colds and other illnesses and (if mild) even cleanse your pores to prevent pimples.

Now if you excuse me, I'm off to work up a sweat learning the full Push It dance routine.

Looking for a little extra motivation to get exercising? How about some new gear?