A new study has revealed that the way you walk may do more than just get you from one place to another - it could offer surprising health benefits. Researchers have found that walking style, including pace, posture, and stride, can significantly influence overall physical and mental well-being. From boosting cardiovascular health to enhancing mood and cognitive function, your daily walk might be a more powerful tool for health improvement than previously thought.
Throughout history, people sought elixirs for longevity, but Hippocrates, widely considered the father of modern medicine, pointed to a simpler answer: walking, and modern science is validating this wisdom.
According to a Lancet study, exceeding 8,000 daily steps cuts the risk of premature death by half, debunking the 10,000-step myth originating from a 1960s marketing campaign. Importantly, brisk walking, exceeding 100 steps per minute, yields greater benefits. A mere seven-minute brisk walk daily reduces heart disease risk by 14%.
An analysis published in the European Heart Journal, titled 'Physical activity volume, intensity, and incident cardiovascular disease', reveals brisk walking can reduce biological age by 16 years by middle age. Starting brisk walking even at 60 adds about a year to life expectancy. It also serves as a better predictor of death than other methods and even lifestyle factors. Doctors could learn more from people based on these findings.
While brisk walking may not universally enhance all health outcomes, such as cancer risk reduction compared to light walking, it provides benefits beyond physical health. Walking boosts brain activity, doubling creative output, and its mental and cognitive benefits are amplified in natural settings. "Nature prescriptions" leverage these principles to improve health.
However, the medical system is largely for treatments, whereas walking helps to avert conditions like diabetes and heart disease that are now observed in industrialised and developing economies alike. If physical activity can be achieved, then the health and physical activity opportunities for all may reduce. For the "elixir of life", you could do worse than looking down at your feet.
