Regular walking, even when it’s below the minimum recommended levels for physical fitness, is associated with lower mortality rates compared with inactivity, according to new data from a large, ongoing US cancer prevention study among older Americans.

Following a recent study esearcher at the American Cancer Society found that “There is a tremendous health benefit to simply going out for a walk.”

Walking is “simple, free and does not require any training” and is “the ideal activity for most Americans, especially as they age.”

The new study was published online in October 2017 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Various US guidelines call for adults to perform either more than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity a week to pursue “optimal health.” These are recommended minimum amounts.

But the new study showed that 120 minutes or less of weekly moderate-intensity walking is also a boost to one’s life span.

In other words, you can fall short of the minimum goal for adults and still benefit.

This is not “power-walking,” nor is it “strolling through the grocery store,” but instead simply walking at “an average pace.”

That speed “may cause you to eventually feel a slight increase in your breathing and will allow you to cover roughly a mile in 20 minutes. Walking at that pace is a moderate-intensity activity. And any walking Is Better Than None!

Walking is the most common type of physical activity performed by Americans and has been linked to lower risk for heart disease, diabetes, and breast and colon cancers. But the new study is the first to examine walking only (separated out from other activities) in relation to mortality in older men and women.

For the study Dr Patel and his colleagues reviewed data on more than 62,000 men and 77,000 women enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, which surveyed participants repeatedly via mailed questionnaires. The primary endpoint of the current study was death from any cause between 1999 and 2013.

The mean age of the participants in 1999 was 71 years for men and 69 years for women.

In the study, “inactive” individuals were 26% more likely to die prematurely compared with study participants who walked “some” and even less than the minimum recommended levels recommended.

Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine