Source:healthline.com
- Researchers say walking daily can reduce your risk of high blood pressure and diabetes.
- Experts say those daily steps can also reduce stress and bolster your immune systems.
- Some simple ways to get in your walking is to park far away from the store, walk instead of having lunch with a friend, and hold a work meeting while walking.
More than 100 million peopleTrusted Source in the United States have diabetes or prediabetes.
It’s also estimated that more than 100 million Americans have high blood pressure.
Those numbers have been rising, but researchers say there is a free and relatively easy way to reduce your risk of developing one of these diseases.
It’s the simple act of walking.
The standard recommendation for physical fitness is 10,000 steps a day.
But even a fraction of that can work, according to the authors of a new study.
The researchers state that middle-aged study participants who walked the most steps per day over an average of 9 years had a 43 percent lower risk of diabetes and a 31 percent lower risk of high blood pressure.
The research was presented today at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The benefits of exercise, specifically walking, have been studied extensively the past several years,” David DaPrato, DPT, who works in sports rehabilitation and is a professional triathlon coach, told Healthline. “There is good reason behind getting your 10,000-plus steps in each day.”