Walking at a fast pace for 30 minutes each day is the key to lowering the risk of diseases including dementia, new research has found. For power walkers, the risk of developing dementia was up to 62pc lower.
It's already dubbed one of the best exercises for warding off diseases and trimming the waistline. But experts from Australia and Denmark have now found that walking is linked with more health benefits than previously thought - including reduced dementia risk.
And while 10,000 steps was the previous the benchmark for a healthy dose of daily activity, the latest research suggests pace can lower this risk further. Even when doing less steps.
Experts monitored 78,500 Brits over the age of 40 between 2013 and 2015 using wearable fitness trackers. Participants wore a wrist accelerometer to measure physical activity over a seven day period. Seven years later their step counts were compared to medical records and death certificates.
Only those who were free of dementia, heart disease or cancer in the first two years of the study were included in the final results. The study found that participants who walked around 3,800 steps a day at any speed cut their risk of dementia by 25pc.
But those who walked around 9,826 steps a day at any speed, lowered their risk by 51pc. People who walked at a pace of over 40 steps per minute, got a 57pc protective effect with only 6,315 steps a day.
Researchers found that the optimal duration of physical activity for reducing dementia risk was achieved by those who walked at a brisk pace of 112 steps per minute for at least 30 minutes a day. In the second study with the same participants, they found that every 2,000 steps per day lowered the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and premature death, by between eight and 11pc.
Dr Matthew Ahmadi, co-author and researcher at the university, added: “The take-home message here is that for protective health benefits people could not only ideally aim for 10,000 steps a day but also aim to walk faster. The size and scope of these studies using wrist-worn trackers makes it the most robust evidence to date suggesting that 10,000 steps a day is the sweet spot for health benefits and walking faster is associated with additional benefits."
According to the NHS, regular walking has been proven to reduce the risk of some chronic illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, asthma, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some types of cancer. It can also improve your mood and reduce your risk of depression, claims the health body.
