In reassuring news for those whose schedules don’t allow them to exercise vigorously on a daily basis, recent research has found that walking 5 000 steps weekly can add years to your life and slash your healthcare costs.
The study from Discovery and the London School of Economics said a previously inactive person who starts walking 5 000 steps thrice-weekly can reduce healthcare costs by as much as 13% and add at least three years to their lives, reports BusinessLIVE.
Discovery’s international incentive scheme, Vitality – which has previously shown that people who exercise regularly and make better food choices have lower healthcare costs than those who don’t – recently focused on finding ways to encourage sedentary people to get moving too.
“We are particularly interested in the people who know what to do but struggle to do it,” said Discovery’s global head of data science and actuarial science, Emile Stipp.
The research looked into the most effective ways to acquire and sustain new healthy habits and identified three “rules” for doing so: these include starting with low to moderate intensity exercise at low frequency, “laddering” the new habit on an existing baseline, and focusing on consistency rather than intensity, he said.
Discovery and the LSE analysed the health, exercise and nutrition data from more than 1m Vitality members in the UK and SA over 10 years. Their research, which has not been published in a peer reviewed journal, found getting into the habit of doing even even a modest amount of regular exercise has significant health benefits.
Walking at least 5 000 steps three times a week, maintained for two years, can add up to three years to a previously inactive individual’s life expectancy and reduce their healthcare costs by up to 13%, the research found.
While all age groups benefited from taking up regular exercise, the biggest gain was seen in older people.
People aged 65 and older saw a 52% reduction in their mortality risk after habitually walking 7 500 steps at least three times a week, compared with a 38% reduction in mortality risk among people aged 45 and 65, and a 27% reduction in mortality in the general population.
The research also found people who got into the habit of being physically active three days a week for three years could reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes by 41%.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Walking faster more beneficial than walking further – Australian cohort study
Moderate-intensity walking may reduce VCI symptoms
7 000 steps a day can reduce early CVD death risk, global study finds