Thursday, December 26, 2013

40 Minutes of Walking Per Day Reduces Cardiovascular Risk by 20 Percent

This is from the DailyMail summarizing a study by researchers at University of Leicester who looked at 9,306 adults:
Taking just 2,000 extra steps a day could help people prone to heart attacks and stroke cut their risk by eight per cent, claim researchers.
The exercise is equivalent to walking 20 minutes a day at a moderate pace, says a study in The Lancet medical journal. ... 
But doing 4,000 extra steps - 40 minutes of additional daily walking - matches the benefits from taking a statin, says study leader Dr Thomas Yates, of the Diabetes Research Unit at Leicester University. 
He said ‘Doing 4,000 extra steps a day reduces your cardiovascular risk by about 16-20 per cent, which is the equivalent of taking a statin.
‘However, a statin has side effects and only reduces cholesterol, whereas walking has a much bigger range of health benefits.’...