Although the benefits of health walking are widely recognized, several factors are hardly studied during scientific research.
Does the rhythm of walking come into play? Are benefits the same for disadvantaged populations, often exposed to limited access to care and environments less conducive to physical exercise?
Researchers at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville in Tennessee, nearly 80,000 Americans, followed 40 to 79 years between 2002 and 2009, mainly African-American, low-income, in the south-east of the United States.
The participants indicated the average time per day that they usually spent walking. Data that have been parallel to their medical records.
« Our research has shown that walking quickly, if only 15 minutes a day, was associated with a reduction of almost 20 % of total mortality Note the researchers. With particularly marked effects on cardiovascular disease.
But why is the fast walking so beneficial for the heart? According to the authors:
- It improves heart efficiency by increasing cardiac flow and body oxygenation;
- It helps control weight and reduces the risks linked to obesity, such as hypertension.
The authors noted the same type of profits for slow walking … but from 3 hours of daily walking!
« Liability is a practical activity, accessible to everyone and with low impact that individuals of all ages and all levels of physical form can use to improve their general health and their cardiovascular health in particular », Conclude the authors.
