Walking is an ideal exercise for many people—it doesn’t require any special equipment, can be done any time, any place, and is generally very safe. What’s more, studies such as the Nurses’ Health Study, (9, 10) Health Professionals Follow-up Study, (11) Women’s Health Study, (12) Harvard Alumni Health Study, (13) National Health Interview Survey, (14) Women’s Health Initiative, (15) Honolulu Heart Program, (16) Black Women’s Health Study, (17) and others (18, 19) have demonstrated that this simple form of exercise substantially reduces the chances of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes in different populations.
Though walking has health benefits at any pace, brisk walking (at least 3 miles per hour) is more beneficial than slow walking for weight control (20-22). And a recent report from the Nurses’ Health Study II suggests that bicycling offers similar benefits to brisk walking: (22) Researchers followed more than 18,000 women for 16 years to study the relationship between changes in physical activity and weight. On average, women gained about 20 pounds over the course of the study. Women who increased their physical activity by 30 minutes per day gained less weight than women whose activity levels stayed steady. But the type of activity made a difference: Women who added bicycling or brisk walking to their activity regimens were able to curb their weight gain, but women who added slow walking were not.
Brisk walking may be challenging for some people, and bicycling (even on an exercise bike) may be a more comfortable option. (22) In the Nurses’ Health Study II, for example, overweight women spent far less time walking briskly than normal weight women, but they spent about the same amount of time cycling. If you don’t like brisk walking or bicycling, any activity that makes your heart work harder will help you meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, as long as you do it long enough and often enough. Walking and biking are also green ways to commute to work—good for the environment, and good for you.
