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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
To put all the chances on your side against diabetes, regular physical exercise such as walking is widely recommended. But according to a latest study, its beneficial effects are accentuated when you put a little more pace into it. How fast should you go when you walk? We’ll answer you.
Walking every day to protect yourself from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes is good. But walking a little faster is even better, as a new study published a few days ago in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. This evaluated how brisk walking is effective in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, and above all at what speed. And she offers a precise answer.
A speed of 5 km/h significantly reduces your risks
The team, made up of British, Iranian and Norwegian researchers, examined ten studies published on the subject between 1999 and 2022, with follow-up periods ranging from three to eleven years. A total of 508,121 adult patients from the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States were included in the analysis. According to the observations made:
- Compared to a walking speed of less than 3 km/h, an average or normal walking speed of 3 to 5 km/h was associated with a 15% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of time spent walking. to walk ;
- The risk decreased even more with a faster pace, a walk of 5 to 6 km/h was associated with a 24% reduced risk;
- Those who walked at a speed above 6 km/h had a 39% reduced risk of developing the disease.
The study is not revolutionary, but precisely emphasizes a simple fact: moving more and a little faster lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes.
“It’s a logical and completely normal process” explains Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo. “The increase in speed produces an increase in energy expenditure as well as an increase in muscle as well. All this contributes to increasing cellular metabolism which acts on the regulation of insulin.
Our expert also reminds us that other simple exercises, such as the plank, also allow you to build muscle and lose weight and therefore also reduce the risk of diabetes. Routines to adapt to your daily life, effortlessly.
For the authors of the study, the simplicity of the effort is also the key to preserved health: “Walking costs nothing, it’s simple and, for most people, it can be incorporated into regular activities such as going to work, shopping or visiting friends.”, he added. “Although increasing the pace is generally recommended to improve health, it is important that people walk at a pace that they can manage and that suits them” rthey call in the pages of The Guardian.
Walking a little faster is a non-drug treatment accessible to everyone, which you should remember the next time you leave the house. According to the World Health Organization, type 2 diabetes is one of the world’s leading health threats, with its prevalence increasing sharply over the past three decades.
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