Researchers found that those who walked an average of 8,600 steps per day were less likely to acquire weight, and those who walked an average of an extra 2,400 steps per day (for a total of 11,000) were 50% less likely to gain weight. From the moment a person enters adulthood until they reach middle age, they tend to gain between 0.5 and 1 kilogram (1 and 2 pounds) year, putting them at risk for health problems related to their weight and even obesity. Significant advantages for chronic illnesses and disorders were also discovered in the latest research.
Another research showing the significant positive effects of walking and other types of exercise.
In fact, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if you get up and walk about for 21.43 minutes every day, you lower your chance of dying from all causes by one-third. Adults should practice muscle-strengthening activities twice weekly and engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week, such as brisk walking, dancing, biking, doubles tennis, and water aerobics.
The study
More than 6,000 people who took part in the All of Us Research Program, funded by the NIH and aimed at discovering better methods to provide personalised health care, had their activity and health data examined.
Subjects wore activity trackers for at least 10 hours each day and gave scientists accessibility to their electronic health information over the course of several years for the study published Monday in Nature Medicine.
Participants’ ages varied from 41 to 67 years old, and their BMIs were anywhere from 24.3 (the normal weight range) to 32.9 (the obese weight range).
Four-mile-a-day walkers (about 8,200 steps) had lower rates of obesity, sleep apnea, acid reflux, and severe depression. Weight reduction is helpful for treating sleep apnea as well as acid reflux because it lessens the strain on the esophagus and stomach, and exercise is a fundamental therapy for depression.
