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The number of steps someone takes may matter less than the pattern in which those steps are taken. Long walks offer more heart benefits than getting the same amount of steps in several shorter walks, a new study suggests. MORE: Better health literacy means better preventive care "We tend to place all the emphasis on the number of steps or the total amount of walking, but neglect the crucial role of patterns, for example 'how' walking is done," researcher Emmanual Stamatakis, of the University of Sydney, told BBC News. "This study shows that even people who are very physically inactive can maximize their heart health benefit by tweaking their walking patterns to walk for longer at a time, ideally for at least 10-15 minutes, when possible." The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, included 33,560 participants without cardiovascular disease or cancer from the United Kingdom. They had an average age of 62 years and each took 8,000 or fewer daily steps. The participants were placed into four groups based on the length of their walks — less than 5 minutes, 5-10 minutes, 10-15 minutes and longer than 15 minutes. Over eight years, the researchers tracked how frequently participants developed heart disease or died. They found the likelihood of heart disease and death decreased as the participants' walk lengths increased. Participants who regularly walked for longer than 15 minutes were 80% less likely to die from any cause and about 70% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease compared to those who got most of their steps in walks of 5 minutes or less. The study's findings are a correlation, meaning they don't prove that longer walks are the best way to reap heart health benefits. "We're not saying shorter bouts don't work," researcher Borja del Pozo Cruz, an epidemiologist at the University of Madrid, told the New York Times. "But it seems like it's much better to accumulate steps in longer periods." Aside from improving cardiovascular health, longer walks help control blood pressure, burn fat, manage stress and mood, reduce the risk of diabetes and lower the risk of dementia and some cancers, the Mayo Clinic says. To get into the habit of long, regular walks, the Mayo Clinic recommends starting slowly by walking 5-10 minutes at a steady pace each day to build stamina. Also, make consistent plans that can be easily adjusted, plan several routes to keep the mind stimulated and stay hydrated. Physical adjustments — wearing proper footwear, increasing core strength and recovering from walks with gentle stretching and rest days — also are important for long-distancing walking, generally considered any walk that lasts at least 2 hours or covers at least 6 miles.
