Walking for health? A faster pace improves benefits

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While it's known that regular walking is healthy, the new study from Vanderbilt University suggests maintaining a peppy pace is key. Photo by Adobe stock/HealthDay
July 29 (UPI) -- Want to cut your odds of an early death by almost 20%? Take just 15 minutes out of your day for a brisk walk, researchers advise.
While it's known that regular walking is healthy, the new study suggests maintaining a peppy pace is key.
"Individuals should strive to incorporate more intense physical activity into their routines, such as brisk walking or other forms of aerobic exercise," concludes study lead author Lili Liu of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Recommendations for brisk walking aren't new. The U.S. government's Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans says: "To attain the most health benefits from physical activity, adults need at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking or fast dancing, each week."
However, as Liu's team noted, most research has focused on the health benefits of brisk walking among affluent, white Americans.
The new study was published Tuesday 29 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and involved predominantly low-income Black Americans living in 12 southeastern states. Nearly 80,000 adults aged 40 to 79 were included in the study.
As the researchers noted, many of these people lived in poorer areas with relatively high levels of pollution and few "safe walking spaces."
Study participants were asked how many minutes per days they might spend "walking slowly (such as moving around, walking at work, walking the dog or engaging in light exercise)" and/or "walking fast (such as climbing stairs, brisk walking or exercising)."
Statistics on deaths among the group were collected between 2002 and 2022 for a median of nearly 17 years. (Median means half were followed a shorter time, half for a longer period.) During follow-up, close to 27,000 participants died.
The study's main finding, according to study senior author Dr. Wei Zheng: "Our research has shown that fast walking as little as 15 minutes a day was associated with a nearly 20% reduction in total mortality [deaths], while a smaller reduction in mortality was found in association with more than three hours of daily slow walking."
Even after accounting for other lifestyle factors such as a person's diet, smoking status and other forms of exercise, "this benefit remained strong even after accounting for other lifestyle factors," said Zheng. He's also at Vanderbilt's Division of Epidemiology.
The new findings echo those of prior studies that focused on wealthier, predominantly white populations. They suggest that communities may want to invest in "resources and support to facilitate increased fast walking" within their neighborhoods, Liu said in a journal news release.
Just how might a brisk daily walk boost your health?
According to the researchers, aerobic exercise like this improves the heart's efficiency, including its overall output, oxygen delivery and pumping action.
At the same, regular brisk walks help ward off obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the researchers said.
"These findings underscore the importance of promoting fast walking as a feasible and effective strategy to improve health outcomes," the Nashville team concluded.
More information
Learn more about the benefits of walking at the Mayo Clinic.
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