A recent study indicates that brisk walking is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Brisk walking helps reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- The new study estimates that you need to walk at 4km/h or more to be effective.
- The researchers indicated that an increased walking speed of 1 km/h resulted in an additional reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes by 9%.
Having regular physical activity is essential to stay healthy and prevent many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Among the various recommended forms of exercise, walking is one of the most accessible and popular exercises. But how fast should you walk to reduce the risk of diabetes? Researchers from Semnan University of Medical Science (Iran) worked on this issue.
The answer was revealed in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, on November 28, 2023.
Type 2 diabetes : brisk walking reduces risks
To answer their question, the researchers took up 10 cohort studies on the subject, covering a total of 508,121 adults from the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. Their analyzes revealed interesting results: walking at a speed of 4 km/h or more was significantly associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.
Indeed, if the walking speed is between 3 and 5 km/h, the risk decreased by 15%, regardless of the total travel time. The results also showed that brisk walking at 5 to 6 km/h reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 24% compared to standard walking, while brisk walking at a speed above 6 km/h was associated with a risk reduction of approximately 39%.
Diabetes : walking speed matters too
In their article, the research team specifies: “the present meta-analysis of cohort studies suggests that fairly rapid walking and fast/to “Steps, independent of total volume of physical activity or time spent walking per day, may be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in adults.”. They calculated that an increased walking speed of 1 km/h led to an additional reduction in type 2 diabetes risks of 9%.
“While current strategies to increase total walking time are beneficial, it may also be reasonable to encourage people to walk at faster speeds to further increase the health benefits of walking“conclude the experts.
