Walking for longer stretches could help boost longevity
People who take walks in at least 10–15-minute stretches may gain greater health benefits than those who get the same number of steps during shorter walks spread over the course of the day, according to a study published Oct. 28 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Co-author I-Min Lee, professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues looked at health data from 33,560 middle-aged and older adults who typically walked fewer than 8,000 daily steps. They found that those who took longer walks were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease or die of any cause during the roughly 10-year study period than those who took walks of five minutes or less.
But even a short walk is better than no walk, according to the authors. “We have a lot of data from other studies showing that any amount of physical activity is good,” Lee said in a Nov. 10 Washington Post article. “If you have a choice and are able to, try to walk for more than 10 minutes at a time,” she said. “But the total amount of activity is what matters more than the pattern in which it’s accumulated.”
Read study: Step Accumulation Patterns and Risk for Cardiovascular Events and Mortality Among Suboptimally Active Adults
Read the Washington Post article: Even a 15-minute walk may help boost your longevity
