Whether you’re working or engaged in a robust round of retirement activities, it’s easy to say you have no time to exercise. Since the general wisdom is that you need a lot of time to stay fit and healthy, it’s easy to put it off for another day. Well, sorry, but that excuse no longer holds. New research makes clear that if you’ve got a few minutes, you can fit exercise into your schedule, no matter where you are.

Want to extend your longevity? A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that getting up and moving for a mere 30 minutes a day can help you extend your life span. While more exercise would be even better, little chunks of movement can add up to as much benefit as any longer work-out at the gym. So put on your sweatshirt and cast your gaze on this. And if your motivation is to boost your brain health in addition to upping your physical fitness, then listen to this NPR story on new research in the journal Neurology. It reports that doing even light household chores is associated with better cognition and memory skills, even in people with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. And another research study conducted on mice and published in Nature Medicine finds that the hormone irisin appears to play a protective role against dementia in the brain and that exercise can trigger an increase in irisin. While more work needs to be done on this hypothesis, one of the researchers concludes, “if you can, go for a walk.”

Speaking of exercise advice, NPR has a Life-Kit that provides you with a 22-minute work-out, requiring little equipment and space, that gives you all the cardio, strength training and stretching you need to keep yourself fit. So get up from that chair and take a look here. And do you have a set of stairs nearby? New research shows the value of short bursts of stair climbing throughout your day. No matter what your circumstance, it’s possible to stay active, sustain physical fitness and support brain health, all within a matter of minutes. So goodbye excuses and hello exercise.