![]() It seems like every time I open a medical journal there is something new has been published about the benefits of exercise. Such was the case in an article published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published on August 9, 2023. We’ve known for a long time that exercise decreases the risk of dying, but just how much of an impact it has, and at what level of exercise that impact is achieved has been spotty. In this article researchers combined the data from 17 research studies on the impact of exercise which resulted in data from over 227,000 people (that’s a lot of people, which is a good thing when it comes to research). They found a very strong correlation between the number of steps taken in a day and a decrease of dying from any cause. About half of the causes were from heart disease like heart attack and heart failure. That’s important since heart disease is our number one killer. They discovered, starting at a baseline of about 4,000 steps a day, for every 1,000 additional steps we take we reduce or risk of dying by about 15%. The biggest benefit was in those who went from little walking (about 4,000 steps a day or less) to about 7,500 steps a day. That increase of 3,500 (from 4,000 to 7,500) steps a day decreased the risk of dying by almost 50%! While there continues to be benefits for every incremental increase after that, the benefit per step started to trail off some. The biggest benefit was for those who walked more that 11,500 steps a day (they measured all the way up to 20,000 steps/day) which showed a reduction in mortality of 67%. One of the best things about this article is that it looked at total steps in a day. It didn’t look at how long participants exercises all at once or even how intense they exercised. It showed benefit with any type of walking whether all at once, broken up throughout the day or even if it’s mild. Other research has shown that other types of movement are beneficial too, like biking, hiking, swimming, gardening and yoga, for example. Hmm, I wonder if sky diving, wing-suit gliding or alligator-wrestling count? So, get out there and do something you enjoy that gets you moving. In other words, as we like to say, do-what-moves-you! Pickleball anyone?
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Dr. Dan Smithson &
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