Heart Disease Prevention -Can Walking Pace Predict Risk Of Heart Disease?

Most of the people do not pay attention on how fast they walk. But researchers from the University of Leicester suggests that walking speed might be associated with the risk for developing heart disease. The findings were published November 14, 2017 in ‘European Heart Journal’.  Find out more at:

https://www.howtopreventheartdisease.com/can-walking-pace-predict-risk-of-heart-disease.html

15-Minute Walk For Heart Disease Prevention

Besides diet, exercise also play an important role in keeping one fit and healthy. The general consensus is that people should have 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. Running, swimming, or sports like basketball, football, tennis, table tennis are all good forms of exercise. But for older folks or people who are not suitable for these activities, walking can be a good way to keep fit, too.

Studies using pedometer showed that people who achieve more steps throughout the day are less likely to be overweight, and are at a much lower risk of developing diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, Type-2 diabetes, and more. A pedometer is a small, beeper-sized device that counts the number of steps achieved.

The benefits of walking are often ignored because it is not regarded by most people as an aerobic exercise. The definition of aerobic exercise is one that stimulates the heart and respiratory rates to pump additional oxygen to muscles. Even a slow stroll does that. The faster one walks, the more aerobic the activity. Increased cardiovascular, respiratory, and circulatory operations mean nutrients go where they must to support the exercise. Energy is expensed rather than stored, and the organs, muscles, and bones are strengthened. 

A recent French 12-year study reported that just 15 minutes of moderate daily physical activity such as walking is associated with a 22 percent lower risk of death for people over 60 years of age. The study was conducted by researchers from Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne, France.

Walking 15 minutes may not lead to weight loss, though. For someone who performs strength-training exercises, eats healthily and leads an active life, walking 15 minutes daily can play a role in weight loss. For people who are lack of physical activity and adopts a high-calorie diet, daily 15-minute walks would unlikely lead to weight loss. But walking 15 minutes can still help burn some calories and maintain weight, especially if walking is the only form of exercise one has. Meanwhile, walking can also strengthen muscles, lungs and heart, and improve bone density and relieve stress.

Anyway, there may by a slight advantage if one can walk for 45 minutes or more. The body replaces the burned glycogen (sugar) either through the calories one eats or through breaking down some stored fat. If one eats more calorie than the body needs, it stores it right back again as fat.

If one has difficulty to set aside 45 minutes or even 30 minutes a day for walking, he or she can begin with 15-minute walk a day. Once the 15-minute walk habit is established, he or she can then increase the duration by another 15 minutes to make it a 30-minute walk or two 15-minute walks. In this way, people can get closer to the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity. 

Heart Disease Prevention - Climb Stairs To Prevent Heart Disease

While most people may think of exercise as sport, the scientific evidence indicates that it is everyday activities like walking and stair climbing that are most closely associated with improved health. Click the following link to find out how climb stairs can prevent heart disease.

Heart Disease Prevention - Climb Stairs To Prevent Heart Disease

Heart Disease Prevention - Can Walking Prevent Heart Disease?

Many health professionals believe that walking can improve cardiac risk factors like cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, vascular stiffness and inflammation, and mental stress. It also helps protect against dementia, peripheral artery disease, depression, colon cancer, and even erectile dysfunction. But most studies that show regular exercise is good for health usually focused on various forms of exercise to investigate the influence of total amount of physical activity on health. It does not necessarily indicate that walking is beneficial.

Find out more to see if walking can prevent heart disease by clicking the following link:

Heart Disease Prevention - Can Walking Prevent Heart Disease?

Can Walking Keep One Fit?

It is generally thought that spending an hour of running or working out in the gym is the only way to fitness, yet some fitness experts think otherwise. They argued that walking is just as good.

Modern people spend plenty of time sitting. In fact, there is a new category of people, known as “actively sedentary” who are fit for one hour but sitting around the rest of the day. Obviously, exercising for just an hour or so can never be able to offset the long hours of stillness.

Emerging evidence has suggested that combined physical activity and inactivity may be more important for chronic disease risk than physical activity alone. In a study conducted in 2013 by researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health, 218 marathoners and half marathoners were asked to report their training and sitting times. It was found that median training time was 6.5 hours per week, and median total sitting time was between 8 and 10.75 hours per day. This suggested that these runners were simultaneously highly sedentary and highly active.

Sedentary lifestyle has been blamed for years to cause obesity epidemic, which ultimately lead to many chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. So getting active is the key to one’s overall long-term health. 

A paper published in the journal ‘Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise’ by scientists at Indiana University found that three 5-minute walks done throughout 3 hours of prolonged sitting did reverse the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on arteries in the legs.

Physical activity is undoubtedly essential to health, and walking is the most basic foundation of movement. It is easier to get movement than it is to get exercise. There is a growing number of people calling walking a “superfood”, though this is somehow controversial.

While walking can benefit one’s health, it is definitely not a magical cure because walking would not help muscle or improve cardiovascular system. In order to help prevent disease and lose weight, weights and more intense cardio such as jogging are necessary, according to some fitness experts. Nevertheless, walking might be the only choice of physical activity for some people, especially for those who are not fit for jogging and those who are elderly. 

One might consider setting a target on number of steps to finish everyday. If fitness-walking guidelines of 10, 000 steps per day is too much, maybe one can begin at about 7,500 steps per day and at least 150 minutes of activity each week. Some habits change can help achieve the target. For instance, one might start with walking to friend’s house or the grocery store if they are within walking distance. If one takes public transport, get off a few stops early and walk the rest of the way. If possible, one can fit a walk every evening. Walking, when combined with healthy diet, would certainly benefit one’s health in one way or another.

Walk More To Cut Stroke Risk!

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability. Finding ways to prevent it, especially in older people who are at high stroke risk, is very important. In fact, up to 80 percent of all strokes could be prevented.

Choosing a healthy lifestyle is perhaps the best way to prevent stroke. It includes eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, getting enough exercise, not smoking and limiting alcohol use.

There is no doubt that physical activity can help one maintain a healthy weight and lower his or her cholesterol and blood pressure levels. For adults, 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking or bicycling is required every week. But for older folks, it seems that walking might be the only option as many are not capable of having intense exercise. 

A recent study published online November 14, 2013 in journal ‘Stroke’ reported that older men who spend several hours walking each day, irrespectively of pace, are less likely to have a stroke than those who rarely walk.

Researchers from University College of London and St George's University of London followed 3,435 ambulatory men, who aged between 60 and 70 and were free from heart disease and stroke between 1998 and 2000, for 11 years. These men reported usual physical activity (regular walking, cycling, recreational activity, and sport) in 1998 until 2000, and the nurses took fasting blood samples and made comparative measurements of the body.

The participants were divided into 5 groups according to how long they walked: 0 to 3 hours, 4 to 7 hours, 8 to 14 hours, 15 to 21 hours, and more than 22 hours a week. Overall, 42 percent of men walked for more than 8 hours a week, and 9 percent walked more than 22 hours a week.

During the follow-up period of 11 years, 195 first strokes occurred. Stroke risk of men who walked 8 to 14 hours a week was reduced by approximately one-third when compared to men who walked 0 to 3 hours a week. Those who walked more than 22 hours a week reduced their stroke risk by about two-thirds.

Compared to men who walked at a slower pace, men who walked faster had a one-third reduction in stroke risk. This was, however, attributed to the fact that they walked for a longer distance than the men who walked slower.

While the findings did not prove walking prevents strokes, they did suggest that maintaining an active lifestyle, specifically by walking, could be an important part of stroke prevention strategies in older people.

As suggested by the researchers, walking for leisure in a park or just walking around indoors at least 1 hour a day could protect against stroke.

If You Do Not Want To Have Stroke, Start Walking

Stroke is a disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. It is the third largest cause of death in the United States. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is either blocked or bursts (hemorrhage).

A person who has a stroke might not able to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, to understand or formulate speech, or to see one side of the visual field. Being a medical emergency, stroke can cause permanent neurological damage, complications and even death.

Obviously, one should strive to keep stroke away!

A study conducted by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston revealed that women can lower their stroke risk by walking. They reported on April 6, 2010 in the American Heart Association (AHF) journal “Stroke” that women who walked briskly had a 37 percent lower risk of stroke than those who did not walk, and women who walked at least 2 hours a week at any pace had a 30 percent lower risk.

Previous studies have already shown that physical activity reduces the likelihood of getting stroke, the new study looked at what kind of exercise might be most beneficial for women.

About 39,000 female health workers aged 45 or older enrolled in the Women’s Health Study were involved in the study. The women were periodically asked about their physical activity. During the 12 years of follow-up, 579 of them had stroke. Age, aspirin use, smoking and other factors that could affect stroke risk were taken into account.

While the study also examined vigorous activities such as running, swimming and biking in addition to walking, no link between these vigorous activities and a reduced stroke risk was found. According to the researchers, it is possible that there were insufficient number of women in that group to show a difference, and it is also likely that moderate activity is better at lowering blood pressure, which is a strong risk factor for stroke.

Besides high blood pressure, risk factors for stroke include heart disease, Type-2 diabetes, and obesity.

Women Should Walk to Lower Their Stroke Risk!

Having adequate physical activity such as brisk walking can help prevent heart disease. The recommendation by the American Heart Association for adults is to do 2-and-a-half hours a week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity or a combination of both.

Recently, a group of researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found that women could actually reduce their risk of stroke by walking. Published on April 6, 2010 in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, the findings reported that women who said they walked briskly had a 37 percent lower risk of stroke than those who did not walk. For those women who walked at least 2 hours a week at any pace had a 30 percent lower risk of stroke.

Previous studies have already reported physical activity decreases stroke risk. For example, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health reported in 2000 in the Journal of the American Medical Association that physical activity, including walking, provided a significant reduction in stroke risk. The new study, however, took a step forward to focus on the kind of exercise that might be most beneficial for women.

About 39,000 female health workers who were 45 and older were involved in the study known as Women’s Health Study. The women were asked about their physical activity at the start of the study (1992-1995) and periodically reported their activities thereafter. During the 12-year period, it was found that 579 of them had stroke.

In addition to walking, the researchers also examined other vigorous activities such as running, swimming and biking. However, no link was found between those vigorous activities and a reduced stroke risk.

This could be due to insufficient number of women in that group to show a difference or moderate activity could be better at lowering blood pressure, as explained by the researchers.

While the study was observational with self-reported data, the research team did control well of other risk factors including age, aspirin use and smoking that could affect stroke risk. The researchers were happy to find that moderate activities are powerfully effective in cutting the stroke risk.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer. Besides high blood pressure, heart disease, Type-2 diabetes and obesity are also risk factors that could lead to stroke.

Why Should People Walk or Bike to Work?

Exercise forms an integral part in the prevention of heart disease and many other ailments. However, many of the working people are being pressured by heave workload that they can hardly find time to engage in any form of exercises or physical activities.

A large study in United States for health and commuting found that walking or biking to work, even partway, can boost physical fitness but sadly, very few Americans actually do it. In fact, only about 17 percent of workers walked or bicycled any portion of their commute.

According to experts, things like crumbling sidewalks, lack of bike paths and long distances have prevented American commuters from walking or biking to work.

Researchers from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined the tests and questionnaires from 2,364 workers (middle-aged city dwellers) who were part of a larger federally funded study on heart disease risk. These participants, who lived in Chicago; Minneapolis; Birmingham, Alabama; and Oakland, California, were asked in 2005-2006 about their commuting habits in the past 12 months

It was found that those active commuters did better on treadmill tests of fitness, even after accounting for their leisure-time physical activity levels. This indeed suggested that commuter choices do make a difference.

In the study, the male active commuters also had healthier numbers for body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, insulin and blood fats (known as triglycerides). On the other hand, the researchers speculated that women walked or biked shorter distances and they may have done so less vigorously

The researchers acknowledged that the study has a chicken-and-egg problem. People, who are already active, could be the ones who walk or bike to work. In other words, fitness contributes to wanting to walk to work; nevertheless, the reverse might also be true.

Prior research has found that those countries having the highest levels of walking and biking also have the lowest levels of obesity. Nevertheless, little research has done to examine the health of Americans who walk or bike to work. The new study may be the first large US study of health and commuting.

Many cities in United States, workplaces are separated from homes that lengthen commutes. However, cities like Portland, Oregon, that build bike paths have higher rates of cycling. Meanwhile, companies can provide showers, changing areas and secure bike parking to encourage active commuting.

Want To Lose Weight, Use Pedometer!

When a person is overweight, chances that he or she would become victim of heart disease is much higher. In order to prevent heart disease, overweight or obese people are anxiously finding means to help them cut down the extra weight they have.

United States researchers from the University of Michigan reported in their study on January 15, 2008 in the “Annals of Family Medicine” that walking can actually help people lose weight, especially if they use a pedometer to ensure they are going far enough.

A pedometer (also known as Tomish-meter or step counter) is a device, which counts each step a person takes by detecting the motion of their hips. Originally, it was used by people engaged in sports and physical fitness but now it becomes popular as an everyday exercise measurer and motivator.

The modern pedometer is usually portable and electronic or electromechanical; a typical one is shown below:

It was observed in the study that people who walked 20 to 40 minutes a day lost a small but steady amount of weight. According to the researchers, the increase in physical activity can have health benefits independent of weight loss. In fact, increasing physical activity is expected to lower the risk of cardiovascular problems and blood pressure, and will help dieters keep lean muscle tissue when they are dieting.

A total of 9 studies involving 307 men and women were reviewed in the study. The participants took part in the studies of pedometer use, which ranged from 4 weeks to a year.

Participants in all the studies except one lost some weight (about 0.05 kilo a week on average). The weight loss was found to be 'remarkably consistent' across all of the studies, and this added up to 2.25 kilos over a year.

It is believed that changing eating habits could help even more. People could add between 2,000 steps per day to more than 4,000 steps per day. For an average person, 2,000 steps equals to about 0.6 km.