DO YOU KNOW how you can improve your heart and lung health, improve your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar? Moreover, have you discovered how to improve your joint and muscular pain or stiffness while improving your bone health and balance?
If you guessed exercise, that’s a bingo! But you probably have not been told that you don’t need to jack up the treadmill to 6 miles per hour or do some other vigorous form of exercise to get these benefits?
Before you drive 30 minutes to the local gym, think about this: You may be missing out on a relatively simple, convenient, and highly effective form of physical activity — walking. While everything you have been told about exercise is indeed not wrong, my point is that you probably have not been told about the significant upsides of walking regularly.
Run or walk?
Okay, Dr. Hunter, show me those remarkable benefits of walking. Here we go. When researchers compared the results of the most recent National Runners’ Health Study with the National Walkers’ Health Study, they made this startling discovery:
The energy expenditure for moderate-intensity walking and vigorous-intensity running yielded similar reductions in risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, and heart disease over six years.
There appeared to be a slight statistical benefit for walking (compared to running) for cholesterol control.
The critical point is that while moderate-intensity walking can get the job done and running, you have to expend equivalent energy. Running is more efficient. I am not answering the question I posed: Run or walk? Just move. In addition to the benefits mentioned above in physical health, you may improve your psychological well-being by walking or jogging.
If you dread jogging, know that you can walk your way to health. I try to get in 60 minutes of walking daily. Does that mean that lunchtime turns into a protein bar, fruit, and a nice walk outside? Yep.
Thank you for joining me today.