Walking a little faster
As a follow-up to our previous piece, we’ll talk more on walking but with additional effort. In an article written by Lou Schuler for WebMD, it tells us why there is a need for us to give extra effort.
According to a survey by the Center for Disease Control, 25% of Americans don’t get any physical activity aside from what they do at work. I would suppose close to this percentage will also apply to our own workforces.
We hear of the usual 150 minutes weekly minimum of physical activity, telling us to move more, do more steps. But there’s a new study that tells us to give extra effort to what we’re already doing. No extra minutes, steps or moves needed.
For several days, researchers at Cambridge Universtiy and England’s Universtiy of Leicester studied middle-aged adults with devices on them that tracked how fast they walked. They then calculated calories burned from moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Those who did at least 20% more from their physical activity had a significantly lesser risk of heart ailments as to those who only did 10% more. As long as higher effort activities reached 20% of their total, they were 14% less likely to be diagnosed with heart issues.
Lead researcher Dr. Paddy Dempsey, who specializes in sports and exercise science and human physiology said, “People can improve their cardio-respiratory fitness to a greater degree with higher-intensity activity. More intensity will stress the system and lead to greater adaptation.”
Doing so increases the amount of oxygen our heart and lungs can supply to our muscles during exercise, a measure known as VO2 max. Raising this best reduces our risk of heart disease. Upgrading from the most simple exercise to one that require a little more effort cuts our risk of dying by as much as 60% in any given year.
In a March 2022 study published in the health journal ‘The Lancet’, it says that the risk of dying at a given period lessens with each additional daily steps. The maximum protective effective steps per day for adults above 60 is between 6,000 to 8,000 steps and 8,000 to 10,000 steps for those below 60.
Dr. Dempsey says it’s not about quantity or quality. He says every step we take is a step in the right direction. “People can choose or gravitate to an approach that works best for them. It’s also helpful to think about where some every day activities can be punctuated with intensity”, he says. Just like walking faster when possible.
Chanda Dutta, PhD, head of the Clinical Gerontology Branch at the National Institute on Aging says, “The relative value of the quality and quantity of exercise are very specific to a person’s goals. If performance is the goal, quality matters at least as much as quantity. What matters most, he said, is that we choose something. “You more to risk by not exercising”, he added.
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