Walking faster may significantly lower Type 2 diabetes risk
Updated: Dec 3rd, 2023
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| Walking (img: IANS) |
Walking at a speed of 4 or more km an hour is linked to a significantly lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, suggests a study.
And the faster the speed above 4 km/hour, the lower the risk seems to be, with every 1 km increase in speed associated with a 9% reduction in risk, suggest the findings published online in a British journal covering sports science.
Diabetes menace
The global number of adults with Type 2 diabetes is currently 537 m (53.7 cr), but is expected to reach 783 m (78.3 cr) by 2045, so a simple and inexpensive physical activity that is also associated with several other social, mental, and physical health benefits, might be an easy way of helping to stave off the disease, said researchers from a university of medical sciences in Iran.
The study is based on an analysis of 10 long term studies published between 1999 and 2022. These included monitoring periods ranging from 3 to 11 years for a total of 5,08,121 adults from the US, Japan, and the UK.
Fast walking as a solution
Compared with strolling at less than 3 km/hour, an average or normal walking speed of 3-5 km/hour was associated with a 15% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, irrespective of the time spent walking.
Similarly, fairly brisk walking at a speed of 5-6 km/hour was associated with a 24% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes compared with strolling.
Brisk walking or striding at a speed above 6 km/hour was associated with a reduced risk of around 39%, equal to 2.24 fewer cases of Type 2 diabetes in every 100 people.
Every 1 km/hour increase in walking speed was associated with a 9% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, with the minimal threshold of 4 km/hour equal to 87 steps/min for men and 100 steps/min for women, the findings suggest.
“The present meta-analysis of cohort studies suggests that fairly brisk and brisk/striding walking, independent of the total volume of physical activity or time spent walking per day, may be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in adults,” said the researchers.
“While current strategies to increase total walking time are beneficial, it may also be reasonable to encourage people to walk at faster speeds to further increase the health benefits of walking,” they added.
(Source: IANS)
- Edited for style
