Walking rivals jogging for heart health: moderate walking prevents disease as well as more strenuous exercise does, says a new report - Fitness - Brief Article

Natural Health, March, 2003

YOU DON'T NEED TO SWEAT buckets during your workout to protect your heart. A large study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that women ages 50 to 79 who walked 30 minutes a day, five days a week, reduced their risk of having a heart attack justas much as women who jogged, played tennis, or did aerobics for the same amount of time. Both groups cut their risk by a third, regardless of age or weight.

But note that a leisurely stroll won't do. You need to walk at a moderate pace of 3 to 4 mph to raise your heart rate to 60 to 80 percent of its maximum, says JoAnn Manson, M.D., D.P.H., chief of preventive medicine at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and the study's lead researcher. If you don't have a pedometer that tracks speed, try this: Get in your car and drive 1 mile. Then walk that distance and time yourself. If you do it in 20 minutes or less your pace is fast enough.