One of the many things that helps people stay healthy and reduce the risk of health problems is physical activity. Current recommendations from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion suggest that in a week, individuals should aim to get 150-300 minutes of “moderate aerobic activity.” This can include activities such as brisk walking, among others. A new study that has been recently published has explored the relationship between daily walking and mortality rate.
The results of this study suggest that regular walking may, in fact, help reduce mortality risk. However, fast walking showed the most pronounced reduction in mortality risk. In the study, 48% of people reported that they did not engage in fast walking, and one-third of the participants walked slowly for more than 3 hours a day. Even for participants in the slow walking category, there was a 4% reduction in mortality rate, but this was deemed not statistically significant. Researchers did find that slow walking for over an hour a day could lower mortality related to all cardiovascular diseases, with the strongest association being with ischemic heart disease.
Faster walking speed seemed to offer the most benefit to individuals, as they had almost a 20% decrease in mortality rate from just 15 minutes of fast walking every day. Analysis revealed that fast walking appeared to most reduce risk from cardiovascular disease, particularly deaths caused by heart disease. This association also appeared to be stronger for participants who did not smoke or use other tobacco products. Additionally, for participants who engaged in slow walking, it was observed that doing more fast walking would further decrease mortality rates.
This study does have its limitations, however. The research focused mainly on Black and low-income individuals, so the results may not be generalizable to other groups. In addition to that, some data about daily walking and personal lifestyle came from the participants, and as a result, it may not be completely accurate. Some participants’ reports may have also involved misclassification, such as “climbing up stairs” being counted as brisk walking.
The findings from this study indicate that walking, and specifically brisk walking, can help reduce mortality rates in individuals and the risk of certain diseases. Future research in this area is needed, as this study does not establish causation or validate fast walking as an effective way to reduce mortality rate. However, traditional cardiovascular risk factors, such as managing blood pressure, reducing cholesterol, and stopping smoking, need to be supplemented with the idea that just 15 minutes of fast walking every day can reduce the chance of an individual dying early.
Leave a Reply