Latest news with #KeithDiaz
Vox
30-06-2025
- Health
- Vox
Obsessive step counts are ruining walking
According to my phone, I've been averaging about 6,600 steps a day so far this year. My meager effort pales in comparison to the 15,000, 20,000, or even 30,000 steps I see influencers on my feed bragging about regularly. To be clear: There is nothing wrong with walking — it's a free and low-impact exercise that, compared to running, has greater mass appeal. Americans are overwhelmingly sedentary, spending an average of 9.5 hours a day seated, and anything that inspires people to move more is good news. But quantifying your every step, tracking every ounce of protein ingested, or hours slept can border on obsessive. The current cultural fixation on nutrition and fitness also speaks to a shift toward beauty standards that once again idealize thinness. Mix that with American hustle culture, and you have a recipe for turning a low-key activity into a compulsion. 'This all comes down to how much our culture values productivity above everything else,' says Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. 'It's just another metric that we measure ourselves by.' From leisure to optimization Walking is perhaps one of the most functional and accessible forms of movement: It gets you where you want to go, and you don't need any special equipment to do it. The vast majority of people walk at some point during their day without having to think too much about it. It makes sense, then, that walking has come in and out of fashion as a form of exercise throughout history. In the late 1800s, leisure walking became a popular sport. A century later, at the height of the fitness boom in the 1980s, walking got a rebrand and a refresh, thanks to a book called Heavyhands touting the benefits of walking with weights. 'That became,' says Danielle Friedman, the author of Let's Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped The World, 'a way to make walking not seem weak.' To achieve a textbook hot girl walk, you must walk four miles while expressing gratitude and envisioning your goals. The pandemic was a major boon for walking. With gyms and fitness studios closed and cabin fever setting in, many took to strolling as a way to get moving out of the house. Walking was gentler and less punishing than the high-intensity fitness trends of the early 2000s, Friedman says. 'The pendulum swung a little bit more toward just appreciating movement for movement's sake,' she says. But as social media caught on — the original 'hot girl walk' clip was posted on TikTok in January 2021 — walks became more performative. Walking now had a purpose. To achieve a textbook hot girl walk, for instance, you must walk four miles while expressing gratitude and envisioning your goals. Over time, the step counts ballooned. Keeping careful track of your mileage also has a long history. The first modern pedometer was designed in 1965 in Japan. Called the manpo-kei, or 10,000 steps meter, this simple act of marketing helped cement the 10,000-step threshold as a benchmark that one should strive to hit for good health and well-being. The science doesn't quite back up the marketing. Recent research has found that among women in their 70s, as few as 4,400 steps a day is related to lower mortality, compared to 2,700 steps or less. Those who walked more had even less risk for early mortality, but those benefits tapered off at more than about 7,500 steps. Another study of middle-aged adults found that those who took 8,000 steps were less likely to die early from heart disease and cancer compared to those who only took 4,000 steps. Again, the benefits plateaued after 8,000 steps. Similar findings suggest that 7,000 steps was the magic number (the studies, it should be noted, were observational and could not prove causation.) If you're walking for health, 7,000 to 8,000 steps, however, seems like a pretty good bet. These days, everyone's got a step counter in their pocket or on their wrist. Health tracking apps on phones and wearables like the Apple Watch, Oura, Fitbit, and Whoop have made it much easier to account for every single step. Health-related tracking can be extremely motivating when it comes to behavior change. When you have specific health or fitness goals, tracking is a good way to measure success. 'You have a target and you have a means to measure it,' Diaz says, 'which is great.' At the same time, you should want to engage in that activity because you like it and not because your watch or an influencer is telling you to move. Unless you're intrinsically motivated to achieve that goal — I walk because I like the way it feels — tracking can veer into compulsion. Once you've hit a benchmark of 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 steps, you may feel compelled to meet, or exceed, it every day or else fall into a shame and anxiety spiral. 'When the Fitbit first came out,' Diaz says, 'I used it for a couple weeks, and I just had to put it away because I couldn't do it anymore. If I didn't hit 10,000 steps in a day, it'd be nine o'clock at night and…I'd be circling my little, tiny living room for 20 minutes just to get my steps to where I need them to be. I'm sitting there, like how is this healthy in any way, shape, or form that I'm obsessing over a number?' Although quantifying an activity increases how often you do it, you start to enjoy it less. Soon, something that previously brought you enjoyment can start to feel like work. Although quantifying an activity (like counting steps or the number of pages read) increases how often you do it, you start to enjoy it less, a 2016 study found. This change can happen within a few days of tracking, the study's author Jordan Etkin, a professor of marketing at Duke University, says. When participants were able to see their results, they would continue the activity. But when they weren't shown their data, they lost the motivation to continue. 'The reasons for doing the activity shift from being because you like it or find some other value in it,' Etkin says, 'to being because it gives you this sense of accomplishment and productivity. When you don't get that anymore, because you're not tracking how many of these things you're doing, it's less valuable to you.' Instead of just moving for movement's sake, perpetual tracking assigns status and morality to basic bodily functions. Hitting a certain step count is 'good' and having a low readiness score is 'bad.' The number acts as a marker of wellness. These days, the ideal embodiment of that wellness has pivoted back toward thinness. No longer is a step just a step or a gram of protein a bit of nourishment — it's all in service of optimization of a skinnier, healthier self. People who track their health want every step to count, to matter, Etkin says. If it isn't being documented, it may as well not have happened. 'That introduces new dynamics into how people decide what and whether and when to do things,' she says, 'based on whether it's going to be recorded.' A healthy balance By no means should you stop walking if it improves your mental and physical health. But if the pressure of hitting a specific target every day causes anxiety or you're unable to forgo walking for a day, you may need to reconsider your relationship with your goals. This is 'because you're obsessing over this outward signal, and it becomes this unhealthy striving for perfectionism,' Diaz says. People can start to ignore their body's cues for rest and push themselves to injury. Related Take off your Oura Ring In order to maintain a more flexible outlook on your goals, Diaz suggests setting a range target — maybe 8,000 to 12,000 steps a day — or weekly benchmarks. If you know you're going to be moving a lot on the weekend, you won't be so fixated on a weekday where your step count is lower.
American Military News
01-06-2025
- Health
- American Military News
Even a little daily activity may lower heart, death risks for heart attack survivors
People who spend their days sedentary after a heart-related emergency – such as a heart attack or chest pain – may face a greater risk of another cardiac event or even death within a year than those who move even a little, according to new research. The study found replacing just 30 minutes of sedentary time with 30 minutes of light-intensity physical activity could lower the risk of having another cardiovascular event or dying by 50%. The risk could be reduced by up to 61% with the same amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity. The findings were published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. 'Current treatment guidelines after a cardiac event focus mainly on encouraging patients to exercise regularly,' lead author Dr. Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, said in a news release. 'In our study, we explored whether sedentary time itself may contribute to cardiovascular risk.' Prior research by the same team found people who had experienced a heart attack were spending up to 13 hours each day being sedentary, defined as getting little to no physical movement during periods when they were awake. In the new study, researchers analyzed health, sleep and physical activity data for 609 adults, ages 21 to 96, who were treated for a heart attack or chest pain in the emergency department at Columbia University Medical Center. Physical activity was tracked using wrist accelerometers for a median of 30 days following discharge from the hospital. The devices measured movement in three directions – forward and backward, side to side and up and down – to better assess the intensity of movement beyond what a person could recall. Examples of moderate-intensity physical activities included brisk walking, water aerobics, dancing, doubles tennis and gardening. Vigorous-intensity activity included running, swimming laps, heavy yard work, singles tennis and jumping rope. People in the most physically active group averaged 143.8 minutes of light daily physical activity, 25 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity, 11.7 hours of sedentary behavior and 8.4 hours of sleep. People in the least physically active group averaged 82.2 minutes of light physical activity per day, 2.7 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity, 15.6 hours of sedentary behavior and 6.6 hours of sleep. Phone surveys, electronic health records and the Social Security Death Index were used to determine whether cardiac events or deaths from any cause had occurred up to one year after hospital discharge. The least active participants were more than 2.5 times as likely as the most active to have another heart attack, have surgery to treat heart issues, be hospitalized again or die within a year of their first cardiac event. Getting more sleep also lowered the participants' risk for another cardiovascular event or death. Swapping 30 minutes of sedentary behavior for 30 minutes of sleep reduced the risk by 14%. 'We were surprised that replacing sedentary time with sleep also lowered risk,' said Diaz, a certified exercise physiologist. 'Sleep is a restorative behavior that helps the body and mind recover, which is especially important after a serious health event like a heart attack.' During the follow-up period, 50 participants – about 8% – experienced another cardiac event or died. The findings indicate 'that one doesn't have to start running marathons after a cardiovascular event to see benefits,' Diaz said. 'Sitting less and moving or sleeping a little more can make a real difference.' Even small tasks, such as tidying up the house or a slow stroll were 'nearly as beneficial as moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activities, like biking or doing aerobics,' Dr. Bethany Barone Gibbs said in the news release. She is chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health at West Virginia University in Morgantown. The study provides more support for a 'sit less, move more' strategy for people who experienced a heart event – and especially those who may have barriers to more intense exercise, said Barone Gibbs, who was not involved in the research. 'These findings suggest sitting less and doing anything else – like taking a walk, cooking, playing with your dog or gardening – will help you stay healthier,' she said. ___ © 2025 American Heart Association, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Medical News Today
20-05-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Heart attack: More sleep, exercise, less sitting can help lower risk
Written by Corrie Pelc on May 20, 2025 — Fact checked by Kevin Cyr, MD To prevent a second heart attack, replace 30 minutes' sitting time with exercise, a new study suggests. Image credit: Maskot/Getty Images. About one in five people who have experienced a heart attack will have another within 5 years. Heart attack survivors are also at an increased risk for other cardiovascular issues, such as heart failure, which can be lowered through lifestyle changes like exercising more. A new study says people who are too sedentary after experiencing a heart attack are at a higher risk of having another one or another cardiovascular event. Researchers report the risk of a secondary cardiovascular event can be lowered by replacing 30 minutes of sedentary behavior with light-intensity or moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity, or sleep. 'The risks for heart attack survivors are still substantial,' Keith Diaz, PhD, the Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, a certified exercise physiologist, a volunteer member of the AHA's Physical Activity Science Committee, and lead author of a new study told Medical News Today . 'Even those survivors who receive the most advanced treatments and medications still have significant risk. That's why it's urgent to find additional ways to reduce this risk,' Diaz explained. Adding to this list is a new study recently published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes — for which Diaz is the lead author — which reports that people who are too sedentary after experiencing a heart attack are at a higher risk of having another one or another cardiovascular event. However, they can lower their risk of a secondary cardiovascular event by replacing 30 minutes of sedentary behavior with light-intensity or moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity, or sleep. For this study, researchers recruited more than 600 adults between the ages of 21 to 96 who had been treated at a hospital for a heart attack or chest pain. Study participants were asked to wear a wrist accelerometer for an average of 30 consecutive days after leaving the hospital to measure how much time they spent sedentary vs moving. 'In our previous research, we noticed that a number of heart attack survivors were quite fearful of exercise,' Diaz said. 'Many of the bodily sensations of intense exercise can remind survivors of their heart attack, causing them to fear and avoid it. As a result, we were finding that many survivors were extremely sedentary, spending over 13 hours a day sitting.' 'Given all that has been learned from research on the health hazards of sitting, we were concerned that heart attack survivors were unknowingly increasing their risk of having another event,' he continued. 'That's why we decided to investigate the link between sedentary behavior and secondary heart attack risk.' At the study's conclusion, Diaz and his team found that study participants who spent an average of more than 14 hours a day being sedentary more than doubled their chances of having another cardiac event or to be hospitalized again within a year after their first cardiac event. 'This finding highlights that sedentary behavior is a toxic, harmful behavior which can impact recovery and future health risk after a heart event,' he explained. 'A big misconception among both patients and physicians is that sedentary behavior doesn't matter as long as you are getting your exercise in. Many people focus solely on meeting exercise recommendations, treating it like a checkbox. 'I got my 30 minutes in, so I'm good and don't need to move [for] the rest of the day.' But exercise is just the tip of the iceberg. It only accounts for [approximately] 2% of the day for those who actually do it.' – Keith Diaz, PhD 'Our study found that patients who spent more time sitting after a heart event had a higher risk of cardiac events and death within a year, irrespective of exercise levels,' Diaz added. 'In other words, even if you're exercising, long periods of sitting can still pose a serious health risk. Reducing sedentary time throughout the day is really important for optimal recovery after a heart event,' he emphasized. On the flip side, researchers discovered that participants who replaced 30 minutes of sedentary behavior with light-intensity physical activity daily lowered their secondary heart event or death risk by 50%. Furthermore, substituting 30 minutes of sitting with moderate to vigorous activity every day cut their risk by 61%. 'The large reduction in risk from replacing sedentary time with light-intensity activity really underscores an important public health message: doing something is better than doing nothing,' Diaz said. 'Movement itself, regardless of intensity, can be beneficial after hospitalization. This is especially relevant for people recovering from a heart event who may find moderate or vigorous activity difficult or scary,' he added. 'While exercise still provides the best 'bang for your buck' in terms of the greatest health benefits, our findings are good news for people who may not have the time, ability or desire to exercise,' he continued. 'The road to a healthy lifestyle after a heart event is more accessible and achievable than we thought and is not just for gym regulars.' Diaz and his team also found that if participants replaced 30 minutes of sedentary time with an extra 30 minutes of sleep, they slashed their secondary cardiac event risk by 14%. 'Sleep is healthier than sitting,' Diaz explained. 'It's a restorative behavior that helps the body and mind recover which is especially important after a serious health event like a heart attack. Many patients struggle to find time or feel too intimidated to engage in intense physical activity.' 'Our findings offer an encouraging message,' he added. 'Even getting an extra half hour of sleep, rather than spending that time sitting on your phone or watching one more episode on Netflix, can support recovery and reduce risk. For all the couch potatoes out there, this is a small, doable step that can still make a meaningful difference for your health.' MNT also had the opportunity to speak with Christopher Berg, MD, a board certified cardiologist at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, about this study, who commented that the results are concerning, but not all that surprising. 'We've long known that too much sitting is bad for cardiovascular health,' Berg, who was not involved in this study, explained. 'But this research adds an important layer: It's not just how much time patients are sedentary — it's also how that time is accumulated. Long, uninterrupted periods of inactivity appear particularly harmful.' 'What really stood out to me was the authors' statistical approach that suggested that even replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with light activity, moderate exercise, or even sleep was associated with a lower risk of heart events and death,' he continued. 'That's a powerful message that I'll be using in [the] clinic to encourage patients to stay active.' 'Still, it's important to be cautious with these results,' Berg added. 'This was an observational study, so we can't say for sure that [more] sedentary behavior caused the bad outcomes. People in the most sedentary group were generally older and had more health problems, which may have contributed to their risk. That said, the message is still a good one: if you've had a heart attack — or even just a scare — staying active in some form is likely beneficial.' Heart Disease Cardiovascular / Cardiology Sports Medicine / Fitness
San Francisco Chronicle
19-05-2025
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Even a little daily activity may lower heart, death risks for heart attack survivors
People who spend their days sedentary after a heart-related emergency – such as a heart attack or chest pain – may face a greater risk of another cardiac event or even death within a year than those who move even a little, according to new research. The study found replacing just 30 minutes of sedentary time with 30 minutes of light-intensity physical activity could lower the risk of having another cardiovascular event or dying by 50%. The risk could be reduced by up to 61% with the same amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity. The findings were published May 19 in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. "Current treatment guidelines after a cardiac event focus mainly on encouraging patients to exercise regularly," lead author Dr. Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, said in a news release. "In our study, we explored whether sedentary time itself may contribute to cardiovascular risk." Prior research by the same team found people who had experienced a heart attack were spending up to 13 hours each day being sedentary, defined as getting little to no physical movement during periods when they were awake. In the new study, researchers analyzed health, sleep and physical activity data for 609 adults, ages 21 to 96, who were treated for a heart attack or chest pain in the emergency department at Columbia University Medical Center. Physical activity was tracked using wrist accelerometers for a median of 30 days following discharge from the hospital. The devices measured movement in three directions – forward and backward, side to side and up and down – to better assess the intensity of movement beyond what a person could recall. Examples of moderate-intensity physical activities included brisk walking, water aerobics, dancing, doubles tennis and gardening. Vigorous-intensity activity included running, swimming laps, heavy yard work, singles tennis and jumping rope. People in the most physically active group averaged 143.8 minutes of light daily physical activity, 25 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity, 11.7 hours of sedentary behavior and 8.4 hours of sleep. People in the least physically active group averaged 82.2 minutes of light physical activity per day, 2.7 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity, 15.6 hours of sedentary behavior and 6.6 hours of sleep. Phone surveys, electronic health records and the Social Security Death Index were used to determine whether cardiac events or deaths from any cause had occurred up to one year after hospital discharge. The least active participants were more than 2.5 times as likely as the most active to have another heart attack, have surgery to treat heart issues, be hospitalized again or die within a year of their first cardiac event. Getting more sleep also lowered the participants' risk for another cardiovascular event or death. Swapping 30 minutes of sedentary behavior for 30 minutes of sleep reduced the risk by 14%. "We were surprised that replacing sedentary time with sleep also lowered risk," said Diaz, a certified exercise physiologist. "Sleep is a restorative behavior that helps the body and mind recover, which is especially important after a serious health event like a heart attack." During the follow-up period, 50 participants – about 8% – experienced another cardiac event or died. The findings indicate "that one doesn't have to start running marathons after a cardiovascular event to see benefits," Diaz said. "Sitting less and moving or sleeping a little more can make a real difference." Even small tasks, such as tidying up the house or a slow stroll were "nearly as beneficial as moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activities, like biking or doing aerobics," Dr. Bethany Barone Gibbs said in the news release. She is chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health at West Virginia University in Morgantown. The study provides more support for a "sit less, move more" strategy for people who experienced a heart event – and especially those who may have barriers to more intense exercise, said Barone Gibbs, who was not involved in the research. "These findings suggest sitting less and doing anything else – like taking a walk, cooking, playing with your dog or gardening – will help you stay healthier," she said.
