AIBU to think 20 min walking a day is not 'very active'

[UndertheCedartree]

I am reading a book called 'How not to die' by Michael Gregner. In it he talks about the 'Simple 7 steps' the American Heart Association says help cut your risk of Heart disease.

One is being 'very active'. This is defined as 22 minutes walking per day. I was pretty surprised by that. I walk more than that myself daily but don't consider myself very active, atall. I'm trying to get much healthier. Is that all I really need to aim for? Is there something I'm missing?

@thecatsthecats - I agree with you, especially on a warm day much nicer to walk. My DC's Social Worker was worried about us walking to school - it is only a 20 min walk!

I like to walk my dogs twice a day for at least 40 minutes per walk, I do have quite a physically active job but I still think I could do more. I'm struggling at the moment because of plantar fasciitis which is making it difficult for me to walk, and I really hate it. I really want to be more active - and my dogs are getting fatter too!!

@soulinablackberrypie

Nearly every job I've ever had has involved about a half-hour walk each way. My current job is about a 50 minute walk each way. I don't really think of that as exercise because it's something I need to do to get from A to B (I haven't got a car). But I miss it on days when I'm not working - I get fidgety and will usually get out for a walk of some sort during the day, unless I go for a run instead. I'm not super-fit (I can run, but not fast) and am visibly somewhat overweight - I should imagine I'd be pretty unfit by now if I didn't walk at all.

I can well believe people in America think 20 minutes is a long walk, as it sounds like it's just not the cultural norm there (except maybe in New York City and a few other more "alternative" towns?) I have very occasionally met someone in the UK who had no idea about walking. When my DS was a baby, I used to walk to a local coffee morning once a week with him in a pushchair - it took about 10 minutes. Another woman who lived in the same road as me went to the same thing and usually drove. One week her car was in for repairs and she walked - and arrived embarrassingly early because she'd allowed 45 minutes for the short walk!

45 minutes wow! I do know many avid car drivers who if their car is in the garage they feel unable to go anywhere - it is really strange!

@tinkywinkyshandbag

I like to walk my dogs twice a day for at least 40 minutes per walk, I do have quite a physically active job but I still think I could do more. I'm struggling at the moment because of plantar fasciitis which is making it difficult for me to walk, and I really hate it. I really want to be more active - and my dogs are getting fatter too!!

Plantar fascitis is so painful! Are you doing exercises for it?

I've done 150 minutes of activity so far today and it's my rest day, so it's all walking. On a normal day I will do about 100-120 minutes of walking and 50-60 minutes dedicated exercise. When calculating my TDEE I'm classed as moderately active.

So between 3-7 miles a day? I'm curious how there can possibly be no health benefit below 3 miles - do you have the studies?

^^

In answer to your question, studies showed some minor gains at low walking levels. 7k to 14k was shown to be the sweet spot. If you Google walking studies you’ll come across quite a lot of research

Just because you don’t consider it to be “active” doesn’t mean there aren’t health benefits, though. And I guess he’s talking about right across the age spectrum, so, for someone in their 80’s to be doing a twenty minute walk every single day would be active, surely. For kids that would be positively sedentary as the majority of them do huge amounts of running every day in the school yard from my daily observations of them (teacher). So it’s relative, I guess. And besides, it’s probably more beneficial to do 20 mins of walking daily throughout your entire adult life rather than run 5-10 k pretty regularly in your twenties and thirties and give it up for a more sedentary lifestyle in your 60’s and 70’s.

I'm in Texas and the "school run" is far where I live.

The elementary school (ages 5-10) and the high school (ages 14-18) begin at 7:35am and from my home is 2.1 miles away and 3 miles. That's 40 minutes and over an hour to get to school in the morning or afternoon return at 2:35pm.

The middle school (ages 11-13) begins later at 9:05am and it's 2.5 miles from my home. Again around 45 minutes but the day ends at 4:45pm. In the winter, the kids are walking home in the dark.

Luckily for me, there are established yellow school bus routes for my children's schools. But other areas are not so lucky and have to arrange their own transport even with long distances.

Someone, I think the OP @UndertheCedartree mentioned that she found it odd that parents in an American program dropped their kids off at school in the car. This may be why. Plus, in my city, the fourth largest in the nation, has massive commuting times to the city so many kids are dropped off very early (our working day begins at 8am traditionally) and long distances away from schools is why many people do this. My children had after-school activities at school that ended an hour or two after the school day and if there's an after-school activity, there are no school buses home and families must find arrangements to get the kids to their homes and that includes driving.
That doesn't include off-campus after-school activities.

That is why many people are always driving and walking, even 20 minutes a day, can be hard for many Americans on a typical day.

I should also add that those distances I mentioned, are each way, not all together.

That means a minimum of 4-6 miles round-trip journeys.

20 minute brisk walk where you are 'deep' breathing has huge health related benefits.

Dr Gregor recommends as much walking as you can. He has a treadmill desk. I had a quick google and found this:

But how much is enough? Dr. Greger believes health authorities ‘have fallen into the same trap as the nutrition authorities, recommending what they think may be achievable, rather than simply informing us what the science says, and letting us make up our own mind’.

Official US guidelines say adults should get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic exercise (that’s just 20 minutes a day).

“Dr. Greger says: “It is true that walking 150 minutes a week is better than walking 60 minutes a week.

“Following the current recommendations for 150 minutes appears to reduce your overall mortality rate by seven percent, compared to being sedentary.

“Walking for only 60 minutes a week only drops your mortality rate about three percent. But, walking 300 minutes a week drops overall mortality by 14percent.

“So, walking twice as long – 40 minutes a day, compared to the recommended 20 – yields twice the benefit. And, an hour-long walk each day may reduce mortality by 24 percent.”