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Walking every day could add ten years to your life, new research says

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Walking every day could add ten years to your life, new research says

You probably know this walking can improve body composition, mobility And heart healthBut did you know it can even help you live up to a decade longer? That’s the big takeaway from a new experience The study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine last week. Here’s everything you need to know, including how long and how often you should walk.

Methods of the study

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). activity trackers It was worn for four days by Americans over the age of 40. Combining this with analysis of 2019 U.S. Census data and 2017 mortality data, the researchers were able to estimate how different levels of physical activity affect life expectancy.

Walking benefits longevity

mihailomilovanovic//Getty Images

Walking can add 11 years to your life

Results of the study

The data showed that life expectancy was positively correlated. exercise. The authors found that 25% of the most active individuals engaged in equivalent activity levels. walking 160 minutes at 3 mph each day.

Based on this, they estimated that if all people increased their activity to this level, they could increase their life expectancy from 78.6 years to 84 years; this was an increase over five years.

However, being in the bottom 25% of activity was associated with a nearly six-year reduction in life expectancy.

So if these less active individuals walked an extra 111 minutes each day, the study authors predicted they could live 11 years longer.

What does this mean for us?

Of course there are many variables that contribute to longevity (nutrition, to sleep, stress…), but this not the first work to connect to more movements – specifically, walking – has a longer lifespan, suggesting that longevity is indeed an important benefit of taking your daily steps.

It’s also worth noting that the new study analyzed only four days of participants’ activities; This means that walking statistics collected may not reflect participants’ usual walking habits; So it’s a bit reductive to claim that walking exactly 111 minutes a day will increase your life expectancy by exactly 11 years. However, participants were advised to continue their daily lives as normal while wearing their activity trackers; so although specific numbers are difficult to pinpoint, those who walked more during the four-day intervention are likely generally more active in daily life. It is then a fair conclusion: ‘Higher levels of physical activity provide a significant increase in population life expectancy.’

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Bridie is Fitness Director at Women’s Health UK. She spends her days sweating over new workouts, fitness launches, and the best home gym set so you have everything you need to stay fit. Her work has been published in Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and more. She’s also a part-time yoga teacher and has a habit of nodding her head in the middle of savasana (not while teaching, promise).

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