Which Is better for your health – walking or running?
Walking and running are both aerobic cardiovascular exercise. Some of the health benefits of cardio include:
- helps you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight
- increases stamina
- boosts immune system
- helps prevent or manage chronic conditions
- strengthens your heart
- can extend your life
Cardiovascular exercise is also good for your mental health. One study found that just 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise three times a week reduces anxiety and depression. It can also improve your mood and self-esteem. Researchers from the study also say that it’s not necessary to exercise for 30 straight minutes to experience these benefits. Walking for 10 minutes at a time three times a day resulted in the same mental health boost
Walking
Walking is among the world’s most popular forms of exercise, and far and away the most favoured in the world. And for good reason: It’s simple, accessible and effective. Taking regular walks lowers the risk of many health problems including anxiety, depression, diabetes and some cancers
However, once your body becomes accustomed to walking, you might want to pick up the pace. If you can nudge even part of your walk into a run, it offers many of the same physical and mental benefits in far less time. But just how much better is running? And how can you turn your walk into a run? NMTBP investigates
Why Walking Is Good for You
When considering the health benefits of an activity like walking or running, there are two connected factors to keep in mind. One is the workout’s effect on your fitness – that is, how it improves the efficiency of your heart and lungs. The second is the ultimate positive outcome: Does it help you live a longer life?
The gold standard for assessing fitness is VO2 max, a measure of how much oxygen your body uses when you’re exercising vigorously. It’s also a strong predictor of life span
Even doing a small amount of activity — like taking slow steps throughout the day — somewhat improves VO2 max compared with staying completely sedentary, according to a 2021 study of 2,000 middle-aged men and women. But bigger benefits come when you begin walking faster, which raises your heart and breathing rates. If you’re working hard enough that you can still talk but not sing, you’ve crossed from light to moderate physical activity. Studies suggest that moderate activity strengthens your heart and creates new mitochondria, which produce fuel for your muscles
What Makes Running Even Better
So how does running compare with walking? It’s more efficient, for one thing. Why? It’s more than the increased speed. Rather than lifting one foot at a time, running involves a series of bounds. This requires more force, energy and power than walking. For many people first starting out, running at any pace — even a slow jog — will make your heart and lungs work harder. That can raise your level of effort to what’s known as vigorous activity, meaning you’re breathing hard enough that you can speak only a few words at a time
Government health guidelines recommend 150 minutes to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, or half as much for vigorous activity. That might suggest that running is twice as good as walking. But when it comes to the key outcome of longevity, some studies have found running to be even more effective than that
In 2011, researchers in Taiwan asked more than 400,000 adults how much vigorous exercise (like jogging or running) and moderate exercise (like brisk walking) they did. They found that regular five-minute runs extended subjects’ life spans as much as going for 15-minute walks did. Regular 25-minute runs and 105-minute walks each resulted in about a 35 percent lower risk of dying during the following eight years.
Those numbers make sense, given running’s effect on fitness. In a 2014 study, Dr. Lee and his colleagues at Iowa State University found that regular runners — including those jogging slower than 6 miles per hour — were 30 percent fitter than walkers and sedentary people. They also had a 30 percent lower risk of dying over the next 15 years
Whether you’re walking or running, consistency matters most. But after that, adding at least some vigorous exercise to your routine will increase the benefits
Running has many other health benefits
Running has been linked to many other health benefits
A few specific health problems that running may help prevent or alleviate include:
- Heart disease: A 15-year study with over 50,000 participants found that running at least five to ten minutes a day, even at low speeds, reduced heart disease risk up to 45%
- Blood sugar: Running can lower blood sugar by making muscle cells more sensitive to insulin. This helps sugar move into muscle cells for storage
- Cataracts: One study found that moderate-pace walking and vigorous running both reduced the risk of cataracts, with more exercise directly resulting in a lower risk
- Falls: Running may reduce the risk of falling among the elderly. Research shows that elderly participants who run are less likely to fall because their leg muscles are more responsive
- Knee damage: A common myth is that running is bad for your knees. An analysis of 28 studies refuted this misconception, finding strong evidence that links physical activity with stronger knee tissue and healthier knees
- Knee pain: Running may also help reduce knee pain. A study of participants with an average age of 64 years found that running was not linked with knee pain or arthritis. Instead, participants who ran more actually had less knee pain
How to Start Walking, and Then Running
Running does have its downsides. It’s high-impact and hard on your connective tissue.
As we’ve seen, researchers have debunked myths that running will always wreck your knees, but short-term injuries are more common in runners than walkers. Easing into walking first allows your body time to adapt, which in turn reduces risk. Even experienced runners who take a break should gradually build back up
If you want to try running for the first time — or return to it — try this progression
Step 1: Add steps
Increase your step count. If you haven’t been exercising at all, begin by trying for an extra 3,000 walking steps per day, at least a few days per week
Step 2: Pick up the pace slowly
Set aside 10 minutes for brisk walking three to four times per week. Aim for an effort level of three to five on a scale of 10. Gradually increase the duration, until you can stay on your feet for an hour
Step 3: Sprinkle in running
As you gain fitness, you’ll notice you must walk even faster to reach moderate intensity. Once this happens — usually after about a month or two — start adding in run-walk intervals. Warm up with a five-minute brisk walk. Then alternate a minute of jogging with three minutes of walking. Repeat this three to five times
Step 4: Try running continuously
Each week or two, increase your running interval and decrease your walking time, until you’re running continuously
Check with your doctor first if you’re being treated for heart disease or another chronic condition, or if you have symptoms like chest pain. You might need to undergo a stress test or other evaluation before being cleared to do vigorous activity
Those who can’t run (or don’t want to) can turn up the intensity in other ways. For example, add a few hills to your walking route, and push the pace as you climb them
Best of all is to mix and match — brisk walking or other moderate-intensity exercise on some days, vigorous workouts on others, taking more steps on days when you can’t squeeze in a workout. It all adds up
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