In order to maintain a healthy life, exercise is just as important as diet management. This is because an active body becomes a shortcut to quickly escape from illness.
Research has also shown that even people who find it difficult to exercise regularly can significantly lower the incidence of various adult diseases, including cancer, if they do light but steady exercise.
Among the various exercises, ‘walking’ is one of the most easily accessible exercises. Let’s take a look at various studies to see how much and how to walk is the most effective way to prevent disease.
◇ Walking 45 minutes a day prevents cancer
According to a study by the American Cancer Society, 300 minutes of exercise per week was found to help prevent cancer. This exercise effect can be converted to walking for 45 minutes a day.
Even regular walking, not extreme exercise, can significantly reduce the activity of cancer cells. Professor Siobhan Phillips of Northwestern University in the United States also analyzed the correlation between prostate cancer and walking.
The study found that men who walked more than three hours a week had better prognosis related to prostate cancer, including fatigue and weight gain. A similar effect was seen when walking briskly for 90 minutes.
Professor Phillips emphasized the results of the study, saying, “It shows that simply taking a walk can improve the (cancer-related) prognosis.”
The biggest reason why various exercises, including walking, prevent cancer, is to increase immunity. According to the Karolinska Research Center in Sweden, exercise helps suppress tumor growth by increasing the activity of immune cells that attack cancer cells.
◇ The effect of walking 10,000 steps a day
Research results have also been announced that a certain amount of walking, regardless of exercise time, lowers the risk of cancer-related death.
A Danish research team analyzed 78,500 adults using British Biobank data and found that people with cancer and cardiovascular disease had an 11% lower risk of death for every 2,000 steps taken a day. The risk of death steadily decreased until they walked up to 10,000 steps per day.
Walking 10,000 steps a day helps prevent various diseases including cancer. As a result of analyzing 6042 adults in the United States for 3 years, the risk of obesity was lowered by 31% in the case of people who walked 10,000 steps a day.
Walking is also effective in preventing dementia. According to a paper published in JAMA Neurology, an international journal published by the American Medical Association, walking 3800 steps a day can reduce the risk of dementia by 25%.
The efficacy of walking goes beyond disease prevention and leads to longevity. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in the United States analyzed 15 papers related to walking and longevity, and found that walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day reduced the risk of early death in adults over the age of 60.
Dr. Kazuto Tsukita of Japan, who conducted a study on the correlation between walking and disease, said in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper that “regular physical activities such as walking and housework can improve the course of disease in the long term.” He stressed the importance of regular walking.