Move Smart! How fast you walk may predict how long you live
How fast you walk may predict how long you live, according to a study from the University of Pittsburg.
Researchers found that elderly people who normally walk faster live longer. And that speed was a more accurate predictor of life expectancy than age or sex and it can help doctors gauge the overall well-being in seniors.
According to the study, people who typically walked 1 meter per second or faster lived longer than expected. (One meter per second is 3.28 feet per second or about 2.25 mph.) The study analyzed the data of more than 34,000 adults who were 65 years of age or older from nine previous studies to find out if walking speed could predict longevity in older adults.
“We’re able to show that a person’s capacity to move strongly reflects vitality and health,” said study researcher Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
“Walking requires energy, movement control, and support and places demands on multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems,” the authors wrote. “Slowing gait may reflect both damaged systems and a high energy cost of walking.”
Researchers pointed out the study was not to get people moving faster, but rather analyze the way and how fast people walk to their overall health.
One way to make sure you retain your gait into your old age is to keep walking every day. The Centers for Disease and Prevention recommend 30 minutes of brisk walking (a pace of three miles per hour or 6,000 steps or more) at least five times a week to improve your overall health and fitness, and reduce your risk for many chronic diseases.
Move Smart! Making and Keeping Your Step Goals
Before the crush of the holidays and the threat of bad weather dim our resolve to exercise, take some time to set your walking goals. These time-tested strategies will help you keep on track.
Set a Specific Goal: Saying you are going to walk more and get healthier is great, but to be a true goal it needs to be specific and measureable. Determine your daily step goal and go for it and set it up on your home/portal page.
Use Your Pedometer: Not only is your pedometer an accurate way to track your steps and monitor your progress, it is also an excellent motivator. Knowing you have X number of steps to go might be the motivation you need to get moving. Who knows, it might motivate you to get in an extra 1,000 steps over your goal!
Make Time: Set a specific time to do your walking. It will help you develop a routine and thus help you achieve your daily step goals. Put it at the top of your “To Do” list and don’t let other priorities be an excuse not to walk. Remember, you are priority No. 1.
Keep a Record: Your Walkingspree account makes this easy. Review your daily step count and monitor your progress on your Step Tracker. Make sure you upload your steps frequently; say once or twice a week or even daily, to help you keep on track.
Get a Buddy, Be a Buddy: Participants who walk with a buddy walk farther. Be they real or virtual, buddies are a great way to get and give support, and push for “one more time around the block”. You can keep tabs on your buddies and send them gifts by clicking on the “Buddies” link located under the green navigation bar on your home/portal page.
Do you have a tip that works for you? Share it on our Facebook page or post it in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!
The importance of your stride measurement
Lacie Lyons (Consumer Participant)
For my first blog post I wasn’t sure what to write, there are so many things I want to share!
Accomplishing my 10,000 steps each day has not been as easy as it was before marathon training. Shocking, I know. Oh my average steps work out to 10,000 a day or more, however, Mondays and Thursdays tend to be less. These days I do cross training, whether its a boot camp workout, strength training or swimming. Obviously with swimming, I can’t wear my pedometer (I’ve heard they don’t like water a lot and I really don’t want to test it personally), boot camp and strength training is a lot of stationary work concentrating on muscle strengthening. At first I was really frustrated that I wasn’t reaching my step goal every day, however, I have come to realize that an hour and a half of laps or a strength training workout of an hour that leaves me hurting for days more than equals out any steps that do not get measured, and fortunately, walkingspree has an area in our personal account to record any other physical activity in our day!!
How, if I am having days with only 6,000 steps, am I averaging more than 10,000 a day over the course of the week? My long walk/runs on the weekend to build up my endurance for the eventual 42km marathon in December.
With the marathon only 16 weeks away, the long walk/runs are VERY important! This weekend, my training schedule had me set for a 16km path… pretty daunting! Planning and preparing for this approximately 3 hour journey was challenging to say the least. I don’t have one of those fancy smartphones that have a GPS application on them to track your distance for you so I had to map it out on a program online. Because I really wanted to be sure, I used to different plans to figure out my route, plan it out so I would walk by a bathroom at least every half hour (just in case! it is a 3 hour walk after all) and get it set. Double checking, the route seemed overwhelming and long, but I knew I could do it… and out I set. Sunday was a hot, humid afternoon, but I didn’t want it to slow me down (I am, after all, planning on doing the marathon in Hawaii… hot and humid is a great possibility).. I kept my pace up, working hard at a good clip, but since this was a new route, I wasn’t sure where the kilometer markers were and I had to estimate every 11 or 12 minutes would be one kilometer. After 2 hours I reach a point that was approximately 3/4 of the way to my scheduled turn around point. Concerned that I was walking too slow (I expected it only to take me 3 hours) but already exhausted from the heat, I decided the smart plan was to stop and turn around. Another 2 hours later I walked in my front door, exhausted and disappointed I hadn’t done the whole walk. Whipped out my pedometer to upload my steps, it said I had walked 28,000 steps, and the mileage that it recorded was 12.87 miles…. 20.7km!! I was shocked… was it right?? I immediately emailed my trainer with the details of my route. She confirmed (using her GPS program) that indeed I had walked almost 21kms (half a marathon!!!). The moral of the story? Remember to set your stride length properly in your pedometer! It can track your distance even better than a website that claims to be accurate! You can enjoy a real sense of pride sitting back and checking your mileage at the end of the day, even on days you didn’t “exercise”.
Until next week… happy stepping!
Sedentary Lifestyles More Harmful than you Think
A recent study looked at the decline of physical activity in the workplace over the past 50 years. In the 1960s about 50 percent of the jobs required moderate physical activity. Today, 80 percent of our jobs are sedentary and require little or no physical activity. This decline in activity results in about 130 additional calories every day according to the study.
Another study reported that people who sit behind a desk for 10 years are two times more likely to develop bowel cancer.
A sedentary lifestyle expends low energy – leading to weight gain and other health issues.
But there is hope. Even short breaks can make a difference according to a Diabetes Care study. Researchers found that subjects who moved throughout the day showed improvements in triglycerides, blood pressure and waist circumference.
By creating walking opportunities at work and at home, you can attack the risks of a sedentary lifestyle. At work, go talk to coworkers rather than sending an email. Walk at lunch. Use a copier down the hall or on another floor. Take walking breaks instead of coffee breaks.
At home, walk to the corner store, instead of taking the car. Jog in place during commercials, or better yet, take a walk outside or hop on a bicycle.
There are tons of opportunities to move throughout the day and just 2,000 to 3,000 more steps a day will help burn off 100 calories.
Move Smart! Exercise intensity determines walking effectiveness
Studies show that exercise intensity has a lot to do with the health benefits of walking. Intensity describes how much effort you put into walking – the more effort you use, the more calories you burn and the more fit you become. To get the most health benefits, you should walk at a moderate or brisk pace.
But how do you know if you are walking at moderate intensity?
A new study reports moderate intensity is about 100 steps per minute or 3,000 steps in 30 minutes.
Researchers at San Diego State University measured the amount of energy participants expended while they walked on treadmills at different speeds – from 2.4 to 4.1 miles per hour. The subjects also wore pedometers to count their steps. They found that the participants’ moderate intensity ranged from 92 to 102 steps for men and 91 to 115 steps for women.
You can calculate the number of steps you walk per minute by using your pedometer. Note the number of steps on your pedometer, walk exactly one minute (use a watch with a second hand to track the seconds) and then check your pedometer again. Calculate the number of steps walked by subtracting the starting number from the ending number.
If you walked about 100 steps per minute, terrific! If your total was less, then gradually pick up the pace until you reach the target. If you do a pace of 60 steps per minute for at least 10 minutes, your pedometer will start counting your aerobic steps (they are part of your total step count).
Here are two other ways for you to measure your intensity:
The Effort Scale of 1-10 allows you to “rate” how hard the exercise feels to you when you are doing it. You should aim for a rating of 5-7.
- “1″ – at rest, sitting or lying down
- “2″ – very light effort, like stretching or brushing your teeth
- “3-4″ – fairly light effort, when your muscles start to feel warm but you are not likely to get tired for at least 30 minutes
- “5-7″ – hard to heavy effort, when you are sweating and doing something you couldn’t do for very long
- “8-9″ – very to extremely hard effort, so strenuous that you could not do for more than 2 minutes without stopping
- “10″ – highest effort, the hardest thing you ever did, like running as if you were being chased!
The Talk Testis another way to rate your intensity. You should aim for Moderate to Hard Effort.
- Very light effort – you can carry on a conversation and talk in sentences
- Moderate effort – you can talk, but not in full sentences
- Hard effort – you can talk, but would rather not
- Very, very hard effort – you cannot say a word
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