Walking Reduces Risk of Obesity–Expert Suggests Best Time of Day

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Obesity has become a prevalent chronic disease in recent years. According to data from the World Health Organization, more than one billion people worldwide suffer from obesity. The global rate of obesity has nearly tripled from 1975 to 2016, raising many concerns worldwide. The good news is that studies have found that “frequent walking” has a significant effect on the prevention of obesity.

Zheng Jie, a doctor of medicine at the University of Tokyo, Japan, mentioned in an interview with The Epoch Times that the mortality rates are closely associated with levels of obesity. That is, mortality rates increase substantially with the increase in obesity.

According to scientific research data published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, forty-year-old male and female nonsmokers lost nearly six or seven years of life expectancy due to obesity.

Daily Steps and Health

A report published in the journal Nature Medicine in October 2022, showed that the risk of obesity and other chronic diseases is associated with the number of “steps per day.” Vanderbilt Institute of Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, conducted the research and monitored the activities of 6,042 participants. The median activity monitoring period was four years, during which the participants’ health-related information and steps per day were observed.

Results showed that the risk of being overweight decreases significantly as the number of steps increases. For people with a BMI (body mass index) of 28 (kg/㎡), the risk of obesity decreased by 64 percent when the number of daily steps increased from about 6,000 to 11,000.

In addition, studies have shown that the relationship between steps per day and incident disease was inverse and linear for obesity, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and major depressive disorder, with values above 8,200 daily steps associated with protection from incident disease.

Research published in the journal JAMA Neurology in October 2022 also found that daily step counts of approximately 9,800 are the best option for lowering the risk of dementia.

As for the best time for walking outdoors, Zheng suggests about half an hour after eating. As an old saying goes: “100 steps after dinner, live to 99.” Appropriate walking after dinner, can stimulate the peristalsis of the intestines and stomach, promote food digestion, and also has a role in the consumption of body heat.

Zheng said that strolling outdoors with good air quality, can strengthen cardiorespiratory functions and enhance the body’s immunity and respiratory system functions.

Advantages of Walking

Compared with other sports, walking is a safer, easier, and simpler way of exercising that even sedentary people or the elderly can do.

Walking not only brings health benefits but can also help to build interpersonal bonding. Going for a walk with friends, colleagues, and family helps to strengthen your relationships.

Christine Webb, a clinical psychologist, with a doctorate in psychology from Emory University in Georgia, conducted related research published in the journal American Psychologist in 2017. Webb noted that walking together allows people to gain affective or cognitive benefits. Moving in sync can strengthen the spirit of collaboration while looking in the same direction implies achieving the same goals—thus a positive relationships, empathy, and pro-sociality are enhanced.

Moreover, research published in the journal BioScience in 2015, revealed that greater exposure to nature leads to greater community cohesion, as well as a significant reduction in crime, and a safer society.