HEALTH: Walking or running: Which is better?

Posted:  10 Sep 13

The following is an excerpt from a recent article on the Kaiser Permanente "Partners in Health" website.  I figured you might wish to consider this.

Which is better: Walking or running?

Robert Sallis, MD, discusses the pros and cons of 2 common forms of exercise.  There is much evidence pointing to regular exercise as the single best thing a person can do to improve health and longevity, and walking and running are popular ways to get the exercise you need. So, which is better?

We asked Robert Sallis, MD, a sports medicine physician at our Fontana Medical Center in California. It turns out the answer is not as clear as you might think, he says.

• While hardcore runners may look down at walkers, evidence suggests the health benefits are about the same. 
• In fact, recent studies showed that while runners typically expend twice as much energy as walkers for a given amount of time, walkers can get the same health benefit by just walking longer. 
• That means that walking for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, gives about the same health benefit as running for 15 minutes, 5 days a week.

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In other words:

Walk/30/5 = Run/15/5
Maybe do a little of both
A Perfect Excuse to Go Out and Play

Astronauts have to do it in space or quickly dissolve.
We have to do it on earth or slowly dissolve.

Here's an interesting Wikipedia article on "Physical Exercise."
Here's one on "Mental Exercise."
Here's one on "Spiritual Exercise."