According to a Korean study conducted among more than 7000 octogenarians, it would be enough to walk for ten minutes every dayor just over an hour a week to reduce the risk of death by 40% from any cause.
For this study, researchers at Sanggye Paik University in Seoul followed their 7,000 patients from 2009 to 2014. This allowed them to observe that the less sedentary among them, who continued to walk every day, were less likely to die of any cause compared to those who were inactive.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity activity to maintain good health. But the older you get, the more difficult these recommendations are to follow. According to Dr. Moo-Nyun Jin, cardiologist and main author of this study presented at the last Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, striving to walk daily for at least 10 minutes over the age of 80 would be enough to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by keeping the heart healthy and lowering blood pressure.
“Identifying the minimum amount of exercise that can benefit older people is important because recommended activity levels can be difficult to achieve when over 85. The take-home message from our study is that we must continue to walk throughout our lives” declares the cardiologist.
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