From The Straits Times    |

Reduce your heart disease risk with power walkingA new study published October 8 suggests that you can cut your risk for heart disease and diabetes by taking a short, brisk walk or jog every day.

While many studies suggest that staying active including walking at a moderate pace for 30 minutes a day can improve your health, the new findings reveal that it’s the intensity, not the duration, that makes the difference.

Researchers from Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark, looked at data from more than 10,000 adults of all ages from Copehagen, with participants surveyed at the start of the study and monitored for up to 10 years.

The findings showed that fast walkers and joggers who exercised for two to four hours per week were up to 50 per cent less likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a “cluster of risk factors that give rise to diabetes or heart disease,” writes WebMD.

The risks factors include high blood pressure, high blood sugar and belly fat, among others.

Subjects who walked at a casual pace for an hour a day made no impact on their risk of developing the syndrome.

The findings appear online in BMJ Open: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/5/e001711