Walk Off Years With This Trick
By Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. For a long and healthy life, there are certain things you don't want to rush. We'd put Burgundies, anniversary dinners (well, most dinners, really -- eating slowly is always good), and yellow traffic lights (stop, please) in that category. But there are a few places where it's smart to hustle, and walking just earned one of those spots.
What a brisk pace gets you that a leisurely stroll won't (other than getting you wherever you're going faster): protection from heart disease -- and probably from wrinkles and impotence. Small increases in walking speed have a big impact on heart disease risk for people over age 65. Guys who walked a little slower than 3.3 mph had a threefold higher risk of heart disease than those who walked a little faster than 4 mph. Women who walked slower than 3 mph had three times the risk of those who walked just faster than 3.3 mph.
How does that work? Faster walking has been associated with higher healthy (HDL) cholesterol levels (higher HDL is much better for women of any age, and for men over 60), and dawdling with two adverse markers of heart disease, stroke, wrinkles and impotence: raised homocysteine and increased carotid artery wall thickness.
Go from sluggish to speedy easily: Pick up the pace for 30 seconds or longer (do this where the ground is flat). Go back to your usual speed for three or four minutes, and then pick up the pace again. Over time, shorten the time of the slower pace. The faster pace soon will feel normal.
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The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of "YOU: Having a Baby." Want more? See "The Dr. Oz Show" on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. (c) 2009 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Read more about By Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. at ArcaMax.com.
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