Aerobic exercise is better for you than walking …

[8 July 2010 - 18h08]

So you’ve decided to take up some form of regular exercise. Great! But what should choose to do? Is 30 minutes walking a day enough, or should you go to a sports centre? If your priority is to improve your health, it seems that aerobics are better for you than walking. To explain …

Canadian researchers compared two groups considered to be “physically inactive”. In other words, they did not participate in any form of regular physical activity or took fewer than 5,500 steps a day going about their normal business. The first group was put on a walking regime while the second group took part in aerobic exercise. With one small refinement: both exercise programmes were designed so that participants expended the same amount of energy.

After six months of tests, the blood pressure of those who had embarked on aerobic exercise had dropped more significantly than that of those who went walking. The difference was -9% compared with -3%. Researchers noted a similar change in the respiratory threshold: this is the point in an exercise programme where breathing becomes more difficult.

“But not everyone is going to be in a position to start an indoor exercise programme”, the author warns. “The intensity, frequency and duration of such exercise means that aerobics are not advisable for those with certain health problems such as type 2 diabetes”.

However, this in no way diminishes the positive effects of walking, which is easier to do on a daily basis and … costs nothing. The group who walked achieved a significant reduction in body mass, waist circumference and resting heart rate, although, according to the study, “it took 6 months before the first benefits of walking were seen.”

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