Running is good for many things: shin splints, blisters, and yes, your heart. Now it turns out you can have the heart-related benefits of running without the foot-related pain. Walking briskly, according to a study recently published in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes as much as running can. An American Heart Association release reports that when researchers analyzed 33,060 runners in the National Runners’ Health Study and 15,045 walkers in the National Walkers’ Health Study, they found that the same energy used for moderate intensity walking and vigorous intensity running resulted in similar reductions in risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and possibly coronary heart disease over the study’s six years. Comparing energy expenditure to self-reported, physician-diagnosed incident hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and coronary heart disease, researchers found:
- Running significantly reduced risk for first-time hypertension 4.2 percent and walking reduced risk 7.2 percent.
- Running reduced first-time high cholesterol 4.3 percent and walking 7 percent.
- Running reduced first-time diabetes 12.1 percent compared to 12.3 percent for walking.
- Running reduced coronary heart disease 4.5 percent compared to 9.3 percent for walking.
I am really glad to hear this as I tend towards gout, am 77 years old, have only one kidney, experience occasional atrial-fibrulation, and have no desire to run, but have been walking briskly for upwards of an hour a day for the past several months. I also ride a stationery bike, and am hoping to hear a similar report concerning the health benefits of bike reading in comparison to walking/running.
Keep giving us health tips – especially when they refer to the good effects of eating chocolate.