Kick Your Daily Walk Up A Notch
The very act of walking is beneficial, as it is a fundamental movement of the human body. If you are just starting out on a walking program after being mostly sedentary, walk at a comfortable pace and work gradually on increasing your pace and distance.
Once you have eased into a daily walk, you can turn it into a high-intensity workout of sorts, which may be especially beneficial if you’re elderly or unable to engage in other forms of high-intensity workouts.
One program created by Dr. Hiroshi Nose and colleagues at the Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine in Matsumoto, Japan consists of repeated intervals of three minutes of fast walking, aiming for an exertion level of about 7 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, followed by 3 mins of slow strolling.
As reported by the NY-T’s: “In their original experiment, the results of which were published in 2007, walkers between the ages of 44 and 78 completed five sets of intervals, for a total of 30 minutes of walking at least three times a week. A separate group of older volunteers walked at a continuous, moderate pace, equivalent to about a 4 on the same exertion scale.
After 5 months, the fitness and health of the older, moderate group had barely improved. The interval walkers, however, significantly improved aerobic fitness, leg strength, and blood-pressure readings.”
Part of what makes walking so beneficial is that when you’re walking you are not sitting. Sitting for more than 8 hours a day is associated with a 90% increased risk of type 2 diabetes, along with increased risks of heart disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality.
The average American actually spends 9 to 10 hours of their day sitting, and certain occupations, such as telecommunications employees, spend an average of 12 hours sitting each day.
Don’t forget when you are out walking in the day time you are getting sunshine too.
Take a walk, Be healthy, Live lively
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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