{"id":30448,"date":"2025-07-29T06:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T06:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30448\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T06:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T06:31:13","slug":"fast-walking-for-15-minutes-a-day-cuts-risk-of-early-death-by-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30448\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast walking for 15 minutes a day \u2018cuts risk of early death by 20%\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen minutes of fast walking a day can reduce the chance of an early death by 20 per cent, a study has found.<\/p>\n

Strenuous exercise that leaves you out of breath has long been known to be highly beneficial for heart health but scientists are learning more about the benefits of gentler forms of activity.<\/p>\n

Regular walking, even at a relatively sedate pace, has been shown to provide several benefits, providing a boost to cardiovascular health, as well as cognitive abilities and memory.<\/p>\n

A recent study found that walking 10,000 steps a day<\/a>, the number commonly recommended by doctors and fitness trackers, might not be necessary. It said that similar benefits can be achieved by walking 7,000 steps.<\/p>\n

The new study found that more than three hours per day of slow walking, classed simply as \u201cmoving around, walking at work, walking the dog or engaging in light exercise\u201d can reduce the risk of dying early from a number of causes.<\/p>\n

Researchers found, however, that a greater benefit could be achieved from \u201cfast walking as little as 15 minutes a day\u201d. This was classed as \u201cclimbing stairs, brisk walking or exercising\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/p>\n

Slower walking for a longer time is not to be sniffed at but speeding up had greater benefits, the study suggested<\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

\u2022 7,000 steps to happiness? Walkers are less likely to be depressed<\/a><\/p>\n

The scientists, from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee in the US, said: \u201cThe protective effect of fast walking extended to all causes of death but was most pronounced for cardiovascular diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

The benefits of adding 15 minutes a day of fast walking were experienced by those who regularly walk at a slower pace and engage in some form of physical activity, suggesting that anyone can benefit from upping the pace, even if they are relatively active.<\/p>\n

The research looked specifically at those from low-income backgrounds of all ethnicities and black people of all economic backgrounds across 12 southeastern states.<\/p>\n

It followed participants for an average of 16.7 years, looking at those who died of any cause over the period.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research has shown that fast walking as little as 15 minutes a day was associated with a nearly 20 per cent reduction in total mortality, while a smaller reduction in mortality was found in association with more than three hours of daily slow walking,\u201d the scientists said.<\/p>\n

More than 79,000 people were asked to log how many minutes per day they spend walking and at what pace. Information was gathered about their health, then their causes of death.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Emma Duncan: If running is the new religion, I\u2019d rather rest<\/a><\/p>\n

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that fast walking \u201cboosts heart efficiency\u201d and \u201chelps control body weight and composition\u201d, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and elevated fat levels in the bloodstream.<\/p>\n

The researchers said increasing the pace of walking was a \u201chighly accessible\u201d recommendation that doctors can make: \u201cFast walking is a convenient, low-impact activity suitable for individuals of all ages and fitness levels,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Lili Liu, an epidemiologist and the lead author of the study, said: \u201cThe findings of the reduced mortality associated with fast walking pace were supported by previous studies conducted in middle and upper-middle-income populations. Individuals should strive to incorporate more intense physical activity into their routines, such as brisk walking or other forms of aerobic exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifteen minutes of fast walking a day can reduce the chance of an early death by 20 per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-30448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}