Adding This Easy 10-Minute Exercise To Your Daily Routine Can Add Years To Your Life, Says Research
What if just 10 minutes a day could make a lasting impact on your health?
michaeljung | Shutterstock It's no secret that walking as exercise has incredible health benefits. Walking is known to improve cardiovascular health, help manage weight, and strengthen muscles and bones. It's a simple habit that doesn't require a gym membership or any special equipment, and it can be done solo, with friends, or with family.
Walking is now also considered one of the easiest ways to increase your lifespan. Scientists have been diving deeper into the science of walking, and recent research suggests that walking at a faster pace has more benefits and can potentially add a year to your life.
Researchers say that brisk walking daily can increase your life expectancy.
Although any activity is good activity, there is evidence that shows that when it comes to taking a stroll, pace does matter if you're engaging in the act for exercise. Doing a brisk seven-minute walk compared to a 14-minute meander has been associated with a reduction in heart disease by 14%.
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A study performed by the UK Biobank followed almost 475,000 participants over 10 years and found that brisk walkers had a significantly longer life expectancy. Participants who reported a slow walking pace had shorter life expectancies, regardless of body mass index (BMI) level.
If you're wavering because you think you've passed your window to reap the benefits, think again. It's never too late to introduce brisk walking into your routine. A follow-up study by the UK Biobank showed adults around age 60 saw "a longer life expectancy of 0.9 years in inactive women and 1.4 years in inactive men" after adding a 10-minute daily brisk walk.
Brisk walking has benefits beyond physical health.
Walking is also associated with improved mental health and brain activity. It has profound impacts that lead to both short and long-term benefits for cognitive function and mood.
The American Psychological Association (APA) published a study on the effects of walking on creative idea production. They found that, among participants who either sat inside, walked inside on a treadmill, walked outside, or rolled outside in a wheelchair, "walking outside produced the most novel and highest quality analogies."
Brisk walking is associated with natural decreases in depression as well. The APA revealed in another study a "25% lowered risk of depression among adults who got the recommended amount of physical activity per week — about 2.5 hours of brisk walking." Even at just 75 minutes of brisk walking per week, the risk of depression was lowered by 18% compared to adults who reported no physical activity.
Physical inactivity is considered a major cause of long-term health problems.
A sedentary lifestyle is known to lead to a wide range of health problems, like increased risk of disease and certain cancers, weakening of muscles and bones, and weight gain. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that there are "nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity."
Getting a beneficial amount of physical activity is as simple as taking a short walk every day. It's a widespread belief that 10,000 steps per day is the ideal goal, but research says that reaching just 8,000 steps per day reduces the risk of premature death by half. The idea of 10,000 steps per day came from a marketing campaign in Japan, and the optimal range for adults under 60 years old is only 8,000-10,000 steps.
When it comes right down to it, we all simply sit around too much. Ten minutes a day is a pretty easy ask when it comes to the longevity benefits. The worst thing that could happen is that you actually enjoy your walks and end up going farther than you anticipated!
Kayla Asbach is a writer currently working on her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
