Walking Fast For This Amount Of Time Each Day Could Help You Live Longer
A new study of almost 80,000 individuals – predominantly Black people from low-income households in the US – found regular walking, especially at a faster pace, was linked to a reduced risk of early death.
Regular walking is widely recognised for its significant benefits to overall health and wellbeing.
In fact, a recent paper found achieving 7,000 steps a day provided a 25% reduced risk in heart disease, 38% reduced risk of dementia, and 22% reduced risk of depression, compared to 2,000 steps a day.
How long should we be walking for?
For the new study, participants reported the average amount of time per day they typically spent walking slowly (such as walking at work, walking the dog, or engaging in light exercise) and walking fast (such as climbing stairs, brisk walking, or exercising).
Information regarding vital status and cause of death was then obtained.
Fast walking for as little as 15 minutes a day was associated with an almost 20% reduction in early death.
A smaller reduction was also noted when people engaged in more than three hours of daily slow walking.
The protective effect of fast walking extended to all causes of death, but was most pronounced for cardiovascular diseases, the authors said.
Even for those who were already engaged in regular slow walking or physical activity, adding more fast walking further reduced mortality.
Why is fast walking so beneficial?
Walking is free and low impact. The NHS says walking briskly can also help build stamina, burn excess calories and improve heart health.
Regular fast walking can also help control body weight and composition, reducing obesity and the related health risks.
The NHS suggests a brisk 10-minute daily walk has lots of health benefits – however if you can stretch it to 15 minutes, it's certainly not going to hurt.
In the UK, adults are advised to engage in 150 minutes of weekly exercise.
Tips to walk more
If you want to increase your steps, you could try Japanese walking.
Also known as 'the 3-3 walking workout', it's essentially the interval training of the walking world: walk for three minutes at a fast pace and slowly for another three minutes. Repeat this five times for a 30-minute workout.
Experts at health app Paace have also shared the following tips and tricks to get people moving more during the working week:
Walk on your work break
Complete an early walk before work. A brisk half-hour walk before work will see you complete around 3,000 steps, nearly half of your daily target.
Walk to the train station or bus stop in the morning
Get off the bus a stop (or two) earlier
Take the stairs at work
Invest in a treadmill
Complete household chores on your lunch break. Paace said one hour of housework can equate to over 6,000 steps.
Related...
I Swapped 10,000 Steps A Day For 30 Minutes Of 'Japanese Walking' – I've Never Been More Active
I Tried 'Walking Brighter' To Up My Step Count – I've Never Enjoyed Being Active More
I Tried Walking Like A Jane Austen Heroine, And My Step Count Has Never Been Higher
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