Walk Your Way to Wellness: Physical Therapy and Heart Health Denzil Jennings PT, DPT - Therapeutic Associates
go to original May 19, 2023

If you’re trying to improve your heart health, it’s as simple as putting one foot in front of the other.

Perhaps hearing that alone is enough to get you out the door to get on a regular walking routine, but maybe you need just a little more information. Maybe you have some lingering questions.

How fast or hard do I need to walk for it to benefit my heart?

With all of the wearable devices available on the market today, it’s easy to overcomplicate things. A simple and effective way to assess your level of exertion is to use the talk test. You need to walk at a brisk enough pace that you can’t sing, but you can talk. If you can only speak one or two words at a time you are walking too hard, but if you can belt out your favorite song, you need to pick up the pace.

How far or long do my walks need to be to make an impact on heart health?

Recently, on March 1, 2023, the University of Cambridge published an article stating that walking briskly for as little as 75 minutes a week — just 11 minutes a day — can reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

This is good news for those who are intimidated by the American Heart Association’s (AHA) recommendation of at least 150 minutes (about 2 and a half hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. At half the time, the 75-minute mark came with significant health benefits, researchers concluded, including a 17-percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is a great place to start, and once 75 minutes becomes easily manageable, gradual increases will eventually add up to the full AHA recommendation.

In fact, the AHA recently reported about a new study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, which found that for every additional 500 steps walked each day by those age 70 and older, the risk for heart disease, stroke and heart failure dropped by 14 percent. For an average person, 500 steps is about 1/4 mile, which takes between five and seven minutes.

Is walking enough?

You can walk your way to wellness, all it takes is a commitment to putting one foot in front of the other! For many, starting and sticking to a walking program is the biggest challenge. The thing about challenges is they usually have solutions. You can discover success with movement, and, when it comes to a new exercise routine, you can start small for big change!

Read the rest at Therapeutic Associates

Related: When Too Much Exercise Is Bad for Your Heart (Washington Post)