Walking is a very good and gentle exercise, especially in middle age, you need to increase your activity and maintain your health. A recent study pointed out that even if you increase your walking time a little every day, you can extend your life by up to 11 years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey on the health and nutrition of the people, up to 74% of adults did not achieve the recommended physical activity. In order to maintain physical health, it is recommended to perform moderate intensity exercises of 150 to 300 minutes per week, or 75 to 150 minutes per week.
{However, many people do not fully recognize the importance of sports. Lack of sports increases the risk of related diseases, cardiovascular diseases and obesity caused by poor lifestyles, so developing sports habits is very important for staying healthy.
A new research published in the British Sports Medicine Magazine proves that only a small increase in movement volume per day can prolong life. The study investigated the relationship between physical activities and longevity among more than 36,000 middle-aged Americans over 40 years old. The researchers converted all movements to "walking" and compared the health expected life of each group.
The study found that the top 25% of Americans over 40 walk 160 minutes at a speed of 4.8 kilometers per hour a day. If all people over 40 achieve this sports water standard every day, the average life may increase by more than five years, from 78.6 to nearly 84 years old.
Even people in the group with the least amount of movement (equivalent to 50 minutes walking a day) can have a significant impact on long-term costs. For example, increasing the walking time to 80 minutes per day can extend the expected life by 0.6 years; performing sufficient exercise every day (equivalent to walking 110 minutes per day) can increase the expected life by 3.5 years; if the ethnic group with the least exercise reaches the top 25% of the active level, it can greatly extend the expected life by 11 years.
This shows that increasing movement volume is very effective and has a significant impact on extending healthy expected life. You don’t have to worry about how to integrate sports into your daily life, and you can do it without investing extra time. In a different sentence, you can achieve results as long as you go more paths than you are now.
The following are some habits that can increase movement without pain every day:
‧Use stairsUse stairs instead of elevators and escalators to increase the time for natural walking.
‧Walking to the train station or bus station using the public transport tool
can increase walking time.
‧Standing work
By using a standing desk, avoid sitting and exercising your body for a long time.
‧Walking at the office
Walking to the bathroom, printer or tea room can increase the chance of activities.