Extra 2-minutes walk every hour can add years to your life
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Washington: A new study hasrevealed thatwalkingan extra two minutes
each hourmay offset hazards of sitting too long.
The University Of Utah Health Sciences study suggests that engaging in
lowintensity activities such as standing may not be enough to offset
the health hazards of sitting for long periods of time.
On the bright side, adding two minutes of walking each hour to your
routine just might do the trick.
Numerous studies have shown that sitting for extended periods of time
each day leads to increased risk for early death, as well as heart
disease, diabetes and other health conditions.
Considering that 80 percent of Americans fall short of completing the
recommended amount of exercise, 2.5 hours of moderate activity each
week, it seems unrealistic toexpect that people will replace sitting
with even more exercise.
They found that there is no benefit to decreasing sitting by two
minutes each hour, and adding a corresponding two minutes more of low
intensity activities.
However,a “trade-off” of sitting for light intensity activities for
two minutes each hour was associated with a 33 percent lower risk of
dying.
Lead author Srinivasan Beddhu said that it was fascinating to see the
results because the current nationalfocus is on moderate or vigorous
activity. To see that light activity had an association with lower
mortality is intriguing.
Beddhu explained that whileit’s obvious that it takes energy to
exercise, strolling and other light activities use energy, too.
Even short walks add up to a lot when repeated many times over the
course of a week. Assuming 16 awake hours each day, two minutes of
strolling each hour expends 400 kcal each week.
That number approaches the 600 kcal it takes to accomplish the
recommended weekly goal of moderate exercise.
He concluded that based on these results they would recommend adding
two minutes of walking each hour in combination with normal
activities, which should include 2.5 hours of moderate exercise each
week.
Moderate exercise strengthens the heart, muscles, and bones and
confers health benefits that low and light activities can’t.
The study is published in theClinical Journal of the American Society
of Nephrology (CJASN).
Credit: ANI