As the summer Olympics come to a close, it's an excellent time to think about new insights from a study about exercise that began at the start of the 2012 Olympic cycle.

Researchers set out to test the findings of a study published in the journal “Diabetologia” that proclaimed being sedentary greatly increased your risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and an early death — no matter what else you did.

They examined 13 studies that included more than 1 million men and women, and offered information about the effects of sitting, exercise and overall health.

They've recently published their findings in the journal “The Lancet.”

The researchers determined that 60 to 75 minutes of moderate exercise a day can nearly cancel out all the bad effects on your body (muscle weakness, poor heart health, etc.) of sitting for eight hours a day.

If you increase your effort to an hour or more of intense daily exercise, such as interval training, the benefits increase.

So go power walking for 30 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes at lunch and 30 minutes after work, and throw in strength training two to three times a week.