Research

Mixed

Regular walking, specifically measured by MET-hours or walking pace, is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease risk in diabetic women, independent of vigorous exercise.

You don't need to run or lift heavy weights to protect your heart if you have diabetes. Focus on walking regularly. Aim for a brisk pace (3-4 mph) and accumulate walking time throughout the week. This specific type of activity significantly lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke, even if you aren't doing other intense workouts.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The multivariate relative risks for cardiovascular disease across quartiles of MET score for walking were 1.0, 0.85, 0.63, and 0.56 (P = 0.03 for trend).
Frank B. Hu et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2001

Why this rating

Prospective cohort data with robust adjustment for confounders.

Source

Physical Activity and Risk for Cardiovascular Events in Diabetic Women

Frank B. Hu et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2001

DOI 10.7326/0003-4819-134-2-200101160-00009

cohort · n=5125Cited 426×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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