![]() On the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle marked by watching television four hours a day increased the genetic influence by 50 percent.” Walking toward healthĪ wide range of research on walking has established other impressive benefits: “In our study, a brisk one-hour daily walk reduced the genetic influence towards obesity, measured by differences in BMI, by half. “While previous studies have looked at how physical activity affects genetic predispositions, this is the first study that directly looked at the effect of the sedentary behavior of television watching on the body mass index (BMI) of individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity,” says Qibin Qi, Ph.D., study author and a postdoctorate research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard. On the other hand, if you bury yourself in the couch all day, watching television and snacking, you’re just telling your obesity genes to pack on the pounds. A walking program can cut that genetic liability by 50 percent, according to a study at the Harvard School of Public Health. But that genetic inheritance doesn’t have to be your immutable destiny. If other people in your family are overweight, you may have inherited a tendency to gain weight. “And probably most importantly, these patients improved their insulin sensitivity to a greater degree.” Weight Loss Ades, M.D., director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. “The higher-caloric exercise, consisting of almost daily long-distance walking, resulted in double the weight loss and a greater fat mass loss than standard cardiac rehabilitation exercise,” says researcher Philip A. In a study where doctors worked with overweight heart patients, they found that long walks were the perfect way to lose weight and improve cardiovascular health. Heart protectionĪn exercise like walking also supports the health of the cardiovascular system and keeps the heart and arteries functioning better. ![]() Walking is a particularly good form of exercise because it is less likely to damage the joints than other activities and helps maintain bone density. Light daily exercise - equivalent to walking - contributed to a 35 percent reduction in instances of lower back discomfort. New research, published in the prestigious JAMA Internal Medicine looked at 21 randomized clinical trials including 30,850 people, found that simply walking each day can eliminate the need for painkillers, back braces and shoe inserts. People with normal brains needed to walk at least 72 city blocks, or six miles, per week to maintain brain volume and significantly reduce their risk for cognitive decline. Cognitively impaired people needed to walk at least 58 city blocks, or approximately five miles, every week to prevent brain shrinkage volume and slow cognitive decline. Raji’s study showed that physical activities like walking are associated with larger brain size. “We also found that these people had a slower decline in memory loss over five years.” ![]() “We found that walking five miles per week protects the brain structure over 10 years in people with Alzheimer’s and MCI (mild cognitive impairment), especially in areas of the brain’s key memory and learning centers,” says researcher Cyrus Raji, Ph.D. Research at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania shows that walking can slow the development of memory problems and even slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Here’s how walking can reverse many health risks: Brain protection It improves the health of just about every part of the body.Ī major new study found that lack of physical activity is twice as deadly for us as obesity. Scientists are still astounded by the huge power of this one simple activity to change your health for the better just by taking a few steps every day. ![]() It’s so good for you, the CDC has an entire page on its benefits. Scientific research proves the health-power of this activity, but most people don’t seem to understand how much it can improve their lives. One simple activity can exert a tremendous influence over your health, lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s, protecting your heart, defending against cancer, decreasing your risk of disability, controlling your weight and increasing your life expectancy. ![]()
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