The Medical Journal of Australia recently published a paper about a study conducted at The University of Newcastle, concerning the time spent walking and the participant’s health or time in the hospital.
Those in the study were between the ages of 55-80, and they have documented that the more time spent walking means fewer days in the hospital a year, and that doesn’t necessarily mean continuous walking as an exercise.
It’s not surprising that walking is beneficial, and that more activity, even simply going about housework or work is better than not moving. The University used a pedometer on the participants to accurately measure the individual steps in a day.
Those who were more active registered 8,800 steps while those more inactive averaged 4,500 steps a day, and they could’ve been continuous walking or steps around the house or office.
The results showed that those who were active needed only 0.68 days of care per year while the inactive required 0.97 days. The time spent in the hospital was cut by one-third with more steps, which is a tremendous improvement.
Doctors have said that exercise is necessary every day, but this study actually proves the benefits of simply walking every day. Only 40 minutes of continuous walking a day will improve your health.
