Walking is an essential thing for everyone, every day.”Walking is a great way to improve your health and mental outlook, and it doesn’t require a lot of specialist exercise equipment. Put on a comfortable pair of shoes, grab a bottle of water and you’re ready to go.” says Dr Donna K. Arnett, who has served as president of the American Heart Association (AHA).Evidence from previous studies shows that if you can make good use of walking, maintain a certain pace and take a certain number of steps, you will not only have health benefits, prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, regulate mental balance, reduce depression and anxiety and improve cognition, but also reduce the risk of death and increase your life expectancy. It can be a multi-benefit.
Walking has been recognised by the AHA as “one of the safe and easy ways to improve your health”.
A recent study presented at the 2023 AHA Conference on Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health adds to the evidence that walking is good for your health.
The study found that walking more was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events such as coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure; walking an extra 500 steps a day also helped to reduce the risk.
Researchers from The University of Alabama System and other institutions analysed data from the American Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, which included 452 participants aged 70 years and older. The average age of the participants was 78.4 years and 59% were women.
Using questionnaires, the researchers collected basic information on participants’ height, weight and ethnicity; lifestyle information such as smoking status, alcohol consumption, diet and sleep; and measured levels of health-related indicators such as blood pressure, blood lipids and blood glucose.
All participants wore accelerometers for at least 10 hours a day for at least three consecutive days, in addition to sleep time, to collect information on the number of steps walked each day.
In addition, information on the prevalence of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, including stroke, coronary heart disease and heart failure, was also collected during the follow-up period.
The results showed that all participants walked an average of 3,447 steps per day and that 34 (7.5%) of the participants experienced a cardiovascular event during the 3.5 year follow-up period.
After accounting for other factors, the researchers found that walking more was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events in the participants.
The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular events decreased gradually as the number of steps walked per day increased. The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular events was highest in the ¼ of participants who walked the fewest steps per day (<2077 steps/day) at 11.5% and lowest in the ¼ of participants who walked the most steps per day (≥4453 steps/day) at 3.5%.
The risk of cardiovascular events was reduced by 77% in the ¼ participants who walked the most steps per day compared to the ¼ participants who walked the least steps per day.
Each additional 500 steps per day, about ¼ mile (about 0.4 km), was associated with a 14% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events among participants.
The study analysed that walking more may help to prevent risk factors for cardiovascular events such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which in turn may have the effect of reducing the risk of cardiovascular events. However, the mechanisms involved are not clear and more research is needed to explore this and to determine whether more steps per day may prevent or delay cardiovascular events, or whether fewer steps may be an indicator of underlying disease.
It is important to note that this study only showed that walking more was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events, and did not show a causal relationship. Also, there were some limitations to the study, such as not counting walking speed, which may also have influenced the results.
The study concludes that cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death in humans, causing more deaths each year than all types of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined.
This study suggests that it is never too late to take action to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and that it is important to get moving. Increasing your daily physical activity, such as parking your car a little further away from your destination; doing more housework or gardening, or even walking the dog, can increase your step count and improve your health.
Dr Erin E. Dooley of the University of Alabama, the study’s first author, said: “Staying physically active as we age can help improve cardiovascular health. And step count is a simple way to measure physical activity. But most of the current research on walking steps per day and health and longevity has focused on younger people, who are often able to set higher goals, such as taking 10,000 or more steps per day, that may be unattainable for older adults.”
“This study found that for every ¼ mile or 500 steps added, there is a significant benefit to cardiovascular health. This goal is achievable for older people and they should be encouraged to increase their step count by small increments each day to promote cardiovascular health. If you are over 70 years old, try taking an extra 500 steps a day.” Dr Dooley added.
The study concludes by reminding that to protect cardiovascular health, it is not enough to walk and be physically active, but also to adopt healthy living habits, including a healthy diet, such as limiting fat and salt intake and increasing dietary fibre and vitamin intake; not smoking and avoiding exposure to second-hand smoke; getting enough sleep, sleeping 7-9 hours a night; maintaining a healthy weight; and keeping cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure within a healthy range.
