Walking or cycling burns calories, gets your heart pumping and works your legs and abs. It can also lift your mood, put a smile on your face and improve your overall health and well-being.
Brisk walking 11 minutes every day, or 75 minutes a week, reduces the risk of stroke, heart disease and some cancers, according to a new study from the University of Cambridge.
Researchers reviewed 196 scientific articles, which included more than 30 million study participants, to analyze the link between physical activity and cancer, heart disease and premature death for the study, which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Daily 11 minute brisk walk enough to reduce risk of early death).
Britain’s National Health Service recommends that people get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. The study found that this level of exercise could prevent 1 in 6 premature deaths, but doing more than this level provides only marginal benefits.
It found that 75 minutes of moderate exercise per week, or 11 minutes of brisk walking per day, reduced the risk of cancer by 7% and heart disease by 17%.
They found that 75 minutes of moderate activity per week reduced the risk of early death overall by 23%.
Sometimes, replacing some habits is all it takes. For example, try walking or cycling to work or your place of study instead of using a car or engaging in active play with your children or grandchildren. Doing activities that you enjoy and that are easy to fit into your weekly routine is a great way to get more active, one of the study’s authors said.
What’s important is feeling healthy, confident and keeping your body fat at the right level – not what the scale says.
The best way to maintain a healthy weight is to be active. And in addition to walking, cycling has many different health benefits, such as:
-Cycling increases your metabolic rate, which can help you keep the weight off
-A moderate pedal pressure burns up to 500 calories per hour, which is more than walking or swimming.
–A 20-minute bike ride to work could use the same amount of calories as a cappuccino, chocolate or 175ml glass of wine.
If you still don’t have time for walking, you can turn your home into a small gym. All you need is to invest in a bike or a treadmill and incorporate an exercise program into your daily routine.
