19/03/2022
This is an excellent post from BTN.
There can be a bit of an attitude that in order to gain health benefits from exercise, the body needs to be pushed to its limits.
This can be the case in order to achieve a certain type of fitness. However for the majority of people just keeping active is the most important way to gain long term health benefits. It’s also an approach that can be sustained, which is also very important.
Walking can extend your life, and you don't even have to break a sweat!
It's often said that getting your steps in is a useful way to burn calories, and that's true, but being active is about much more than thermogenesis
A recent study involved giving step counters to over 16,000 elderly women and asking them to track their daily activity. Afterwards they were split into quartiles from least to most active, then monitored for 4.3 years
All cause mortality was reduced by as little as 4,400 steps per day, with the trend continuing up to 7500 steps per day
And the best thing? Intensity (measured as steps per minute) made NO difference once total volume was accounted for
Being active is incredibly important for overall health - at least as important as nutrition is, and far more important than formal exercise
Get that step count up!