Friday, March 20, 2009

How fast should I walk to keep fit? Strive for '100 steps per minute'

You should be taking 100 steps each minute for half an hour a day if you want to achieve "moderate" exercise by walking, a study shows.

A US team reached the figure after measuring the body's oxygen demand in some 100 people walking on a treadmill.

They wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that a pedometer alone was not enough to gauge exercise as it gave no data on intensity.

US and UK guidelines urge half an hour of moderate exercise five days a week.

But there is often confusion as to what constitutes moderate exercise, and the amount of gardening, housework or walking needed to confer health benefits.

A useful starting point is to try to accumulate 1000 steps in 10 minutes, before building up to 3000 steps in 30 minutes

For more information, please visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7950003.stm

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