A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that walking in continuous bouts that last 10–15 minutes may cut your risk of heart disease by up to two thirds compared to taking shorter walks.
The study was a prospective cohort study that included over 33,500 participants from the UK Biobank. The participants all walked less than 8,000 steps per day total, and all were free from cardiovascular disease and cancer at the start of the study. Participants were categorized into different groups depending on how they tended to walk throughout the day: bouts of walking shorter than 5 minutes, bouts of 5–10 minutes, bouts of 10–15 minutes, or bouts longer than 15 minutes. While most participants were considered sedentary and got less than 5,000 steps per day, some were considered low-active and got 5,000 to 7,999 steps per day. Participants were followed up with for an average of nearly eight years, and during that time they were monitored for death or the development of cardiovascular disease. The goal of the study was to see whether step accumulation patterns affect the risk of death or cardiovascular disease.
The results showed that participants who walked in bouts of 10–15 minutes or more per day had a significantly lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease compared to those who walked in short bouts of 5 minutes or less per day, even when they had the same number of total steps. This included a lower risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The effect was particularly pronounced for individuals who got less than 5,000 steps per day; if they got their steps through continuous walking, they significantly lowered their risk of heart disease and death compared to those who got their steps in very short bursts.
The authors noted that people tend to have a misperception that getting 10,000 steps per day is important and will improve health. However, this research suggests that how you get your steps may matter even more than how many steps you get. Simply adding one or two longer walks to your day, without worrying as much about your total number of steps, may lower your risk of death and cardiovascular disease. This is particularly true for less active people who tend to walk less throughout the day.
Sources: Annals of Internal Medicine, Science Daily
