Adherence
Brisk walking (≥3 hours/week) reduces the risk of coronary events in women by approximately 35% compared to sedentary levels, achieving risk reductions similar to vigorous exercise when total energy expenditure (MET-hours) is matched.
To significantly lower your risk of heart disease, aim for at least three hours of brisk walking per week. You do not need to run or perform high-intensity workouts to get these benefits; walking fast enough to raise your heart rate (brisk pace) is sufficient. This is a highly accessible, low-barrier strategy for cardiovascular health.
women in the highest quintile group for walking, who walked the equivalent of three or more hours per week at a brisk pace, had a multivariate relative risk of 0.65 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.91) as compared with women who walked infrequently. Regular vigorous exercise (»6 MET) was associated with similar risk reductions (30 to 40 percent).
Why this rating
Large prospective cohort (N=72,488), long follow-up (8 years), rigorous adjustment for confounders.
Source
A Prospective Study of Walking as Compared with Vigorous Exercise in the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in Women
JoAnn E. Manson et al. · New England Journal of Medicine · 1999
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