Is it better to walk by counting steps or minutes? Walking is good for you for the heart, allows you to lose weight, allows you to lower blood pressure and provides benefits related to ‘bad’ cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Science has long highlighted that physical activity can be done by almost anyone, regardless of age, and can be done at any time of the day. The basic program, promoted by various studies, recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Those who are unable to exercise regularly can still focus on walking to get significant benefits. And can achieve targets with a concentrated program.
Large study of over 33 thousand people
This is confirmed by data contained in research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, based on data relating to 33,560 people – mainly those aged over 60s – and collected by UK Biobank, a database supported by the UK health service. Biobanks have medical information on subjects and often track their activity.
The scientists looked for people who were inactive, used to taking less than 8,000 steps a day and had no heart problems.. The researchers divided the monitored subjects into groups, based on the duration of the longest daily commute: 5 minutes or less, 10 minutes or at least 15 minutes. The study examined medical records up to 10 years after follow-up.
Results and verdict
The results are considered consistent and clear. Men and women who Those who walked for at least 15 minutes in a row had the lowest risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. At the same time, regardless of the number of steps taken in a quarter of an hour, these activities increased the likelihood of longevity to a greater extent than the other groups. Those who walk for 10 minutes continuously, according to research, tend to live longer and suffer less heart disease than those who only walk for 5 minutes.
One fact stands out: the different impacts of these activities were found even though people took approximately the same number of steps per day. Therefore, the key element is the time dedicated to the activity. The researchers hypothesized that longer walks would “significantly activate” and positively change a person’s cardiovascular system and metabolism more effectively than shorter walks.
footnote
We cannot talk about cause-and-effect relationships: basically, it would be risky if we stated that walking longer would definitely lead to better results in terms of health. However, we can conclude that people who walk longer may also be more interested in healthy eating and other good habits that have the same or greater impact than time spent walking.
