Posted on 09/27/2023 9:07:58 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
An estimated 80% of older adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure.
A study found that adding a relatively minimal amount of movement, about 3,000 steps per day, can significantly reduce high blood pressure in older adults.
This study sought to determine if older adults with hypertension could receive these benefits by moderately increasing their daily walking, which is one of the easiest and most popular forms of physical activity for this population.
The study focused on a group of sedentary older adults between ages 68 and 78 who walked an average of about 4,000 steps per day before the study.
After consulting existing studies, Lee determined that 3,000 steps would be a reasonable goal. This would also put most participants at 7,000 daily steps, in line with the American College of Sports Medicine's recommendation.
On average, participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased by an average of seven and four points, respectively, after the intervention.
Other studies suggest decreases of these magnitudes correspond to a relative risk reduction of all-cause mortality by 11%, and 16% for cardiovascular mortality, an 18% reduction in the risk of heart disease, and a 36% risk reduction of stroke.
"It's exciting that a simple lifestyle intervention can be just as effective as structured exercise and some medications," Lefferts says.
The findings suggest that the 7,000-step regimen the participants in the study achieved is on-par with reductions seen with anti-hypertensive medications. Eight of the 21 participants were already on anti-hypertensive medications. Those participants still saw improvements in systolic blood pressure from increasing their daily activity.
The researchers found that walking speed and walking in continuous bouts did not matter as much as simply increasing total steps.
"We saw that the volume of physical activity is what's really important here, not the intensity," Pescatello says.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
All from just 3,000 more steps a day.
>> All from just 3,000 more steps a day.
And that’s only 20 feet for Jao “PittyPat” Beiden!
I really like the step counting function on my smartwatch, recommend everyone get one. I’m currently at 123 straight weeks of at least 6000 steps, which is over 2 years every day. My current goal is 143 straight weeks, or 1001 days in row of at least 6000 steps.
I agree that walking is good for health, and I do it myself, but ...
The 4000 steps that supposedly sedentary older adults walk every day is 2 miles. Really? I am skeptical of calling anyone who walks 2 miles a day as “sedentary”.
Those extra 3000 steps are another 1.5 miles, and God bless anyone who has the time to do them every day.
I actually do 2 miles every day on my treadmill, and I’m doing fine. It does help.
I walk that much just going back and forth to the bathroom every day.
How far is 3000 steps?
1.28 miles per my step tracker app. Your mileage may vary depending on stride.
The problem is that much of the USA doesn’t have effective sidewalks. Stroads are not pedestrian friendly
My opinion is that you should aim for 8000 to 10000 steps per days
Thanks. I’m averaging 18,000 steps per day, which includes about 3,000 “steps” from biking. (1337 miles so far) I pray and review scriptures while walking, jogging, or biking.
Thanks.
Not not just a little bit.
That’s a good target. I averaged 19k per day in July, but I was traveling 3 out of 4 weeks, and you walk a lot doing the tourist thing.
That’s about 20 minutes walking, for the whole day. That’s pretty sedentary, imo, if that’s all the walking you do in a day.
I might dispute the term "actually", on the basis that you don't "actually" go anywhere!
I guess "equivalently" would be a mouthful.
numbers seem low to me - it is rare I do less than 10,000 steps a day, and that is just between regular living activities and a short morning and evening walk.
Even at 10,000 a day, I consider that a minimum to maintain health. I should probably doing 15,000 a day if I actually want to lose a bit of weight and improve, rather than maintain, my health.
So with a 2.25 foot stride you are looking at 3 miles a day for 7000 steps. One would think a majority of that distance would need to be on a sustained walk to get the heart rate up, not just doddering around the house to the refrigerator and back.
My Polish step-mother had a ritual of walking after dinner daily. Skinny and healthy to this day. There is truth to exercise.
My own health is good. Started exercise, walking at least 10k steps per day. At 55 I’ve lost 33 pounds, my blood pressure is near perfect. Now to work on the cholesterol which is borderline high. Give up red meat? Not a chance!
This is always a chicken/egg story. Is it only those already healthy enough to add the 3000 additional steps that demonstrate these benefits they already had or dies adding the steps actually improve ones health?
I have no idea how many steps I take in a day. I always lose count at some point.
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