Regular walking works wonders: it reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. That's why doctors advise devoting at least 150 minutes a week to physical activity. If you think about it, it's not that much — just 20-25 minutes a day, Ukr.Media reports.
And now a new study has emerged: it turns out that a daily ten-minute walk can increase your life expectancy by a year if you're over 60. And men benefit more from exercise: walking adds a full 16 months to their lives.
If you walk for half an hour a day, women will gain 16 months, and men will gain 2.5 years. And it doesn't matter what lifestyle a person led before they started walking, or what physical shape they were in, the effect will still be there.
This data was obtained by analyzing data from 40,000 women and 30,000 men — a sample size sufficient to be trusted.
“We have convincingly demonstrated that regular physical activity is a powerful determinant of health and longevity,” said one of the study's authors, Dr. Francesco Zaccardi. “Even a small change in your lifestyle can make a huge difference.”
And if we talk about the number of steps, then for the body to feel the benefits, it takes only 2,300 steps per day. And 4,000 steps reduce the risk of early death by 15 percent. Each subsequent 1,000 steps continues to reduce the risk of premature death, and a plateau occurs at the twentieth thousandth step.
Джерело: ukr.media
