Why Speed Walking Can Improve Your Exercise Results

A new study released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that while walking is the most popular physical activity, the speed and frequency varies greatly and so do the health benefits.

According to Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times Well Blog:

“Paul T. Williams, a statistician at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, gathered data about 7,374 male and 31,607 female participants from the walkers’ health study, who represented almost every speed of fitness walker, from sluggish to swift.

Next, Dr. Williams cross-referenced his data against that in the essential if somewhat ghoulish National Death Index to determine which of the almost 39,000 walkers had died in the decade or so since they had joined the survey and from what.

It turned out that nearly 2,000 of the walkers had died. More telling, these deaths disproportionately were clustered among the slowest walkers. Those in Category 4 were about 18 percent more likely to have died from any cause than those in the other three categories and were particularly vulnerable to deaths from heart disease and dementia.”

Read the rest of the article here.

When adopting a new fitness routine, be sure to do so gradually and with the recommendation of your doctor.

This is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your health care team. It is intended to help you and your family make informed decisions, together with your doctor.