Walking has become a comfortable way to stay fit and in good health: it has several associated benefits; it helps burn calories and maintain body weight.
At this point we won’t try to convince you of the need to include some physical activity in your habits. Or maybe we will. And maybe you don’t have time to go to the gym or it may not be among your priorities. You may not like running or cycling. You might even hate burpees, push-ups, or crunches and your thing probably isn’t workout routines.
However, walking or jogging is something anyone can do. And according to Harvard University (USA), one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, it’s one of the best activities for health, which we can easily do for 30-60 minutes a day and thus follow the World Health Organization minimum recommendations on physical activity.
The study
Now, a new study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), both American institutions, concluded that a greater number of steps is associated with a lower mortality risk for all causes, and confirmed that the number, and not so much the intensity, had a strong association with this risk.
“Although we knew that physical exercise, particularly walking, is good for health, we didn’t know how many steps per day should be completed to reduce the risk of mortality or if walking at a more intense pace made a difference,” Pedro Saint-Maurice, first author of the study explained. “We wanted to research this to provide new ideas that could help people better understand the health implications of the number of steps they get from different electronic wristbands and phone apps,” Saint-Maurice added.
The results of the work, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are based on a breakthrough. Previous research on step count and mortality was conducted primarily on older adults or on people with debilitating chronic conditions. This study was conducted on a representative sample of US adults over the age of 40, about 4,800 participants in total, who used accelerometers between 2003 and 2006. Then, mortality was monitored until 2015 through the National Death Index.
Results of the study
The researchers calculated the associations between mortality and the number of steps and intensity after adjusting for demographic and behavioral risk factors, body mass index, and health state at the beginning of the study.
Thus, they found that compared to completing 4,000 steps a day, a number considered low for adults, completing 8,000 steps a day was associated with a 51% lower risk of all-cause mortality (or death from all causes). While going up to 12,000 steps a day was associated with a 65% lower risk compared to the 4,000 benchmark.
In contrast, the experts found no association between the intensity of the steps and the risk of death after factoring the total number of steps completed per day.
10 key benefits
Several studies attribute fast walking some key health benefits, especially longevity for those who manage to include it among their habits. We will divide them into 8 generic key benefits and 2 benefits focused on losing weight.
10 health improvements
Walking: goal – health
Improves muscle response.
Activates cardiac circulation.
Lowers cholesterol levels.
Lowers glucose levels.
Contributes to the control of blood pressure.
Improves the respiratory function.
Improves the gut function.
Improves the sexual function.
Walking: goal – losing weight
Increases calorie consumption.
Facilitates weight control.
In this sense, the Harvard University School of Medicine came up with a list, which has been updated accordingly, with the amount of calories burned on average within 30 minutes depending on the physical exercise performed and on the body weight of each individual. Walking gives these data:
| Average calories burnt within 30 minutes | |||
| Physical activity | 57 Kg | 70 Kg | 84 Kg |
| Walking: 5,6 km/h | 120 | 149 | 178 |
| Walking: 6,4 km/h | 135 | 167 | 200 |
| Walking: 7,2 km/h | 150 | 186 | 222 |
| Jogging/running: running <10 min. | 180 | 223 | 266 |
At this point it’s important to point out that the WHO recommends consuming 2,000 to 2,500 kcal/day in the case of men and 1,500 to 2,000 kcal/day in the case of women. If you intend to burn fat to lose weight, you’ll have to burn more calories than you consume. On the contrary, if what you want is to maintain your weight, there must be a balance between intake and expenditure.
Link: https://as.com/deporteyvida/2020/06/27/portada/1593259497_484489.html?m1=cG9ydGFkYV9wb3J0YWRh&m2=QUNUVUFMSURBRA%3D%3D&m3=Ng%3D%3D&m4=bm9ybWFs&m5=MjI%3D&id_externo_noti=depyvida_mod_port
Date: June 27th, 2020
By: Álvaro Piqueras
Nutrigenomics Institute is not responsible for the comments and opinions included in this article
