In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleHow Was the Study Conducted?How Does This Apply to Real Life?The Bottom Line
In This ArticleView All
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In This Article
How Was the Study Conducted?
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
The Bottom Line
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We recently reported about how the10,000 steps recommendationisn’t based on science. And while the2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americanssuggest getting 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week, there is evidence that you can get health benefits from smaller amounts.
For example, walking just3,000 steps per dayhas been shown to increase longevity,power walking 4 to 5 minutes a daymay decrease your risk of cancer, andwalking for 2 minutes after mealscan help stabilize your blood sugar. Other research suggests that just 10 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per day may help prevent cognitive decline.
Now, a new study published on February 21, 2024, inJAMA Cardiologyadds to the body of evidence that suggests that smaller amounts of physical activity can have big health benefits.
Researchers pulled data from the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health in Older Women study, which was conducted from March 2012 to April 2014. OPACH was a part of the larger Women’s Health Initiative Long-Life Study.
The OPACH study included 5,951 U.S. women, 63 to 99 years old, with no history of heart failure. According to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, heart failure occurs when the heart is not strong enough to efficiently pump enough blood and oxygen to other areas of the body. The women represented a range of race and ethnicity categories: 33.7% non-Hispanic Black, 17.2% Hispanic and 49.2% non-Hispanic White.
Participants all wore an accelerometer—which is basically a fancy pedometer that tracks all movement, not just steps—for seven days.
After researchers adjusted for various factors, including preexisting conditions, several statistical analyses were run on the data.
“The major finding of our study was that greater amounts of usual daily light-and moderate-intensity activity were associated with a lower risk of developing heart failure over a seven-year time interval,” says the study’s lead author,Michael LaMonte, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of graduate studies and research professor at the University at Buffalo.
LaMonte explains that lighter activity includes self-care, house-care and caregiving, whereas moderate activity includes usual-pace walking, stair climbing and yard work.
As the U.S. population ages and lives longer, the incidence of heart failure is likely to increase.
“This condition substantially reduces quality of life and costs a large amount of health care dollars to treat,” says LaMonte. “So prevention is a key to dealing with heart failure in the coming years.”
Part of that prevention is to simply move more. “Our findings suggest not to be discouraged, because fewer steps accumulated through usual daily activities seemed to help our older women avoid heart failure. Walking appears to be a promising component of heart failure prevention in older women that should be investigated further,” says LaMonte.
If your goal is toimprove your fitness leveland maintain a healthy weight, getting closer to the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week is advisable.
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