Uncle Yang is 62 years old this year, and in order not to increase the burden on his children, he has always hoped to make his body healthier through exercise.
So, he would go to the park or other places with his friends every day for a walk, and even take shopping as a way to walk.
At this time, Uncle Yang suddenly panicked, because he didn't know whether his way of walking was a healthy way or not, and he didn't know why exercising well might have an impact on his health.
1. There are many benefits of walking, what are the benefits of walking fast and walking more?
In fact, Uncle Yang's idea is not too much of a problem, in daily life, whether it is the elderly or young people, walking is the best and most cost-free way of exercise, under normal circumstances, walking can bring a lot of positive effects to the body.
So, what are the benefits of walking fast and walking more? Let's take a look at what different studies say.
1. The more you walk, the healthier?
In a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the research team concluded that:
• Walking about 4,000 steps per person per day can reduce all-cause mortality across the board, and walking more than 2,000 steps can also reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
According to the observational data, the more you walk every day, the greater the impact on your health, and the more positive effects it will have on your body, especially for people under 60 years old, the earlier you start walking, the greater the reduction in mortality may be.
However, the physical fitness of the elderly is relatively weaker, and it is better to walk about 8,000 steps a day, because this is the upper limit of what the body can bear, and it can also reduce the risk of death by more than 42%.
So walking is indeed a good form of exercise, and as a low-intensity aerobic exercise, it can have a good positive impact on physical health.
2. The faster you go, the slower the "old" one?
Based on some early research, we can already find that proper walking can have a very good impact on physical and mental health, and in this process, walking speed is also one of the important indicators of health status.
Researchers from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom have published a study in the journal Nature in which they specifically demonstrated the relationship between walking speed and telomeres, and further demonstrated the link between walking speed and longevity. It was found that:
• There is a clear causal relationship between walking speed and telomere length.
Comparatively speaking, people who walk relatively fast will have longer telomeres and will naturally live longer, that is, people who walk faster will have a relatively younger biological age in middle age.
3. Can walking prevent dementia?
In a previous study, the team mapped the participants with different physical activity intensities and activity times, because it was an observational experiment, the researchers also eliminated age, education level, health status, smoking and other disturbances in the later stage, and finally they found that:
• At least 61 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 31%.
Moreover, the study found that the more steps taken per day, the lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged and elderly women over 65 years old, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged and elderly women who walked more than 4,000 steps per day can even be reduced by 62%.
Second, there are also "tricks" to walk, be careful to "walk" out of a disease!
We are now very clear that walking is indeed a good way to strengthen the body, but it is not sensational that Uncle Yang heard that walking is incorrect and may have negative health effects, which may be due to sticking to the wrong way of walking.
1. Take a hunchback walk
Many elderly people in the process of walking, Xi the hunchback, this wrong way of walking can easily cause spinal pressure, long-term walking, may easily cause backache, back pain.
In addition to the wrong posture of walking with a hunched back can put a burden on the bones, walking with a stomach upright, shuffling on the feet, and severe inner or outer figures, which may also cause a certain burden on the body.
Therefore, in the process of walking, we must choose the correct walking posture, for example, when walking, pay attention to raising the head and chest, straightening the rocker, tightening the lower abdomen, holding the head high, and swinging the arms with the shoulder joint as the axis, which is the best walking posture.
In this way, not only does it not burden the bones of the body, but it also brings better stimulation to the ankles and arches of the feet, and it is not easy to fall and other dangerous situations.
2. Walk after a full meal or on an empty stomach
Most of the elderly choose the time to walk, usually after dinner or before breakfast, but in fact, these two times are not very appropriate.
Walking after a full meal is likely to cause a burden on the stomach and intestines, because the blood in the body needs to be supplied to the stomach and intestines for digestion, and if you do sports such as walking at this time, it may cause insufficient blood flow throughout the body, causing a serious burden on the stomach and intestines.
Exercising on an empty stomach may lead to hypoglycemia in the elderly.
Therefore, it is best for the elderly to choose the timing of walking, which is best controlled half an hour to 1 hour after a meal. At this time, the stomach and intestines have been digested for a period of time, and the elderly walking at this time will not cause a burden on the stomach and intestines, but can also help digestion.
3. Walk on asphalt roads or sandy ground
Just like Uncle Yang, he usually chooses to go shopping as a way to walk, but in fact, when shopping, most of us walk on asphalt roads, because the road surface is too hard, and it is easy to cause a relatively large impact on the knees and ankles for a long time, which may not only make the elderly have dangerous conditions such as broken feet, but also may cause a certain burden on the bones of the elderly.
For the elderly, it is best to choose parks, stadiums and other places when walking, these areas will provide plastic tracks, which are more elastic and have a relatively smaller impact on the knee joint. What's more, most of these places are far away from the road, which is quieter, and the lack of vehicles is safer for the elderly.
Third, the misunderstanding of walking must be corrected, and the wrong cognition must not be allowed!
Many people not only have certain cognitive errors in the choice of walking posture and walking venue, but also have certain misunderstandings in the cognition of walking when they are used to walking.
1. Is it healthier to walk backwards?
Many old people believe in the saying: "One step backwards is worth walking 100 steps." ”
Of course, there is some truth in this statement, because when walking backwards, it can stimulate our muscles that are not usually very active, and it does have a good effect on promoting blood circulation. At the same time, it can also improve the balance of the elderly and alleviate symptoms such as lumbar disc herniation in the elderly.
However, we should note that this way of walking is not suitable for all the elderly, for many elderly people, walking backwards is dangerous, not only easy to fall, but also to cause certain irritation to the arch of the foot or ankle.
2. Want to walk barefoot on cobblestones?
We will find that many parks will pave special cobblestone paths, and many elderly people believe that such pebble protrusions can well stimulate the acupuncture points of the feet, so walking barefoot on the cobblestone path can achieve better exercise results.
But there are also certain misunderstandings in this kind of cognition.
For example, diabetics are not very sensitive to the sensations of cold, heat, and pressure, so when walking barefoot on cobblestone roads, it is easy to get dangerous situations such as foot scratches. For some patients with heel pain, walking on this stone road for a long time may cause more obvious negative effects on the aponeurosis, resulting in more and more serious heel pain symptoms.
Bibliography:
[1]nature Published: 20 April 2022 Investigation of a UK biobank cohort reveals causal associations of self-reported walking pace with telomere length
[2] Nguyen S, LaCroix AZ, Hayden KM, Di C, Palta FStefanick ML, Manson JE, Rapp SR, LaMonte MJBellettiere J. Accelerometer-measured physica activity and sitting with incident mild cognitive impairment or probable dementia among older women. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Jan 25. doi10.1002/alz.12908.
[3] Family Medicine. 2022(08) Walking is the best longevity medicine Xu Shurong