Most UK adults are not prepared to increase the amount of physical exercise they undertake – even if their lives depended on it.

According to research by YouGov, on behalf of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), only 38 per cent of Brits would be motivated to do more exercise even if a failure to do so would lead to an earlier death.

Recent BHF statistics also show that someone dies every 15 minutes as a direct result of physical inactivity.

Dr Mike Knapton, director of prevention and care at the BHF, said: “For many people, exercise has become an ugly word, something to avoid at all costs.

“With our busy lifestyles and labour-saving devices, we’ve stopped getting the exercise our bodies desperately need.”

The YouGov poll of more than 2,100 UK adults also shows that brisk walking is the nation’s favourite way of getting exercise, with over a quarter of Brits favouring the activity over dancing, swimming or going to the gym.