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Walking, running produce similar improvements in heart health
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Moderate-intensity walking and vigorous running appear to produce similar risk reductions for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and, possibly, CHD.
Researchers analyzed 33,060 runners included in the National Runners’ Health Study (51.4% men) and 15,045 walkers included in the National Walkers’ Study (21% men) cohorts. To examine differences in exercise mode and intensity on CHD risk factors, researchers compared baseline expenditure (metabolic equivalent hours per day [METh/d]) with self-reported and physician-diagnosed incident hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and CHD. Mean follow-up was 6.2 years.
The researchers assessed walking and running expenditure by distance, not by time. Participants provided activity data by responding to questionnaires, according to a press release.
- Risk for first-time hypertension was reduced by 4.2% after running vs. 7.2% after walking.
- Risk for first-time hypercholesterolemia was reduced by 4.3% after running vs. 7% after walking.
- Risk for first-time diabetes was reduced by 12.1% after running vs. 12.3% after walking.
- Risk for CHD was reduced by 4.5% after running vs. 9.3% after walking.
“These results also show continued reduction in risk for new-onset hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes when the exercise dose exceeds 450 to 750 MET minutes per week (1.1-1.8 METh/d), the amount of exertion currently recommended by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine for health,” researchers wrote in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
Researchers found no significant differences in risk reduction for running vs. walking for hypercholesterolemia (P=.06), diabetes (P=.94) or CHD (P=.26). Risk reduction was “only marginally greater” for walking vs. running for hypercholesterolemia (P=.04).
“It does not seem to matter whether these exercise doses are achieved by running or walking,” the researchers wrote.
According to Paul T. Williams, PhD, staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkley, Calif., “Walking may be a more sustainable activity for some people when compared to running; however, those who choose running end up exercising twice as much as those who choose walking. This is probably because they can do twice as much in an hour,” he said in a press release.
For more information:
Williams PT. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2013;doi:10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.300878.
Disclosure: Williams reports no relevant financial disclosures.