Walking is one of the most familiar forms of exercise. Not only can it be run without any special equipment or membership, but already Start taking steps without thinking of it as formal training. But how fast do you need to walk to 'count' as improving your health? A new study may have the answer.
meta-analysis, a paper published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, compared the risk of type 2 diabetes in people who walked at different speeds. (Many were asked to report how fast they walked; others wore activity trackers such as Fitbits or completed a timed walking test during their clinic visit.) ) Here's how I categorized the different walking speeds:
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easy or casual walking: less than 2 miles per hour (30:00 per mile)
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average or normal gait: 2-3 miles per hour (20:00-30:00 per mile). This is the equivalent of 3 miles per hour, which Google Maps uses to estimate travel time when giving you walking directions.
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walk fairly fast:3 to 4 miles per hour (15:00 to 20:00 per mile)
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Fast walking/Stride walking:More than 4 miles per hour (1 mile 15:00)
Many people find that 4 miles per hour is the fastest they can walk without starting to run. (Of course, this depends on personal factors such as foot length.)
In this analysis, people who walked at an average or “fairly brisk” pace were less likely to later develop type 2 diabetes. (The average follow-up period was 8 years.) The faster the walker, the better; brisk walking and striding were associated with a 39% lower risk of type 2 diabetes than easy or casual walking. It is related to
Based on these results, you'll want to walk faster than 2 miles per hour if possible. (2.5 miles per hour is a speed that typically counts as “moderate” intensity exercise.) However, the authors note that their results “are primarily from studies at high risk of bias, with low to moderate intensity.” “degree of certainty.” You may need to take it with a grain of salt.
Why is walking speed important?
This is not the first study to compare walking speed and health benefits. Previous research has shown that people who walk faster are less likely to have a stroke, die from cardiovascular disease, and develop cognitive decline and dementia.
But walking protect Or is it just a sign that you are already healthy? Probably both.
A group of physical therapists wrote: 2015 review It's “not just that” [walking speed] This measure indicates an individual's functional capacity and general health status, including response to rehabilitation, functional dependence, frailty, motor impairment, cognitive decline, falls, institutionalization, hospitalization, and cardiovascular It has been shown to predict a variety of outcomes, including associations. Event and mortality rates, and all-cause mortality rates. ”
In other words, walking speed may only be a proxy for overall health. If you are too unwell to walk fast, your health may already be deteriorating. But we also know that exercise is good for your health, and that people tend to get better at it when they exercise.
Walking is an aerobic exercisein the end, if Walk at an appropriate speed. If you don't do much exercise, a normal walking speed of 4.4 miles per hour is enough to count as “moderate” exercise. We should all do at least 150 minutes a week, or about 20-30 minutes per day). Jogging or brisk walking counts as part of your “vigorous” exercise time and is counted twice.
After all, there's no perfect way to measure how much exercise you need to be healthy. Pedometers are popular because they can be easily measured with a pedometer, smartwatch, or mobile phone in your pocket. Walking speed helps here too. The faster you walk, the more steps you take.
But still, we already know that 10,000 steps is a silly goal.; How many steps you need to take to improve your health Range from 2,800 to 9,800, it depends on which study you read and how that study defined health-related outcomes. Most medical and fitness experts say the more you can walk, the better, and even if you're currently walking slowly, you'll likely be able to walk faster as you get healthier.
