Which is better: walking fast or taking 10,000 steps a day?

• Lose weight Can you lose weight just by walking every day?

• Lose weight How and how much you should walk to be in shape and lose weight

Legend has it that, alarmed by the growing problem of obesity, Yoshiro Hatano, a Japanese doctor, realized that

and thought that if that distance was doubled, obviously, it would also be possible to double caloric expenditure and therefore keep the scale at bay.

From that moment, in the mid-1960s, the

(about eight kilometers) to enjoy good health became a 'mantra' for millions of people around the world who they found in it both the

they needed to move and the

not to go to the gym.

Encouraged by a whole

taking those 10,000 steps, with undeniable physical and mental benefits, became the most popular 'sports' challenge until a study by researchers at the University of Warwick (England) ) and published in March 2017 in 'The International Journal of Obesity', concluded that those 10,000 steps were not enough, that you have to take... 15,000!

Carried out by taking as a sample

(Scotland) who

as part of their routine, this research revealed that employees who made their daily route on foot and spent less time sitting presented a

.

All of them took

- about 11 kilometers - a day, at least.

'POWER WALKING'

Obviously, the

more than valid physical activity to maintain

(whether we like it or not, we must give strength routines and work on flexibility, mobility and balance), have always warned that walking at the rate of window shopping, although it counts as movement, it does not score the same, that to obtain substantial benefits you have to put in a lot of effort:

and, if possible, go through

that make us work more intensely both cardiovascularly and muscularly.

Walking faster and, if possible, with adequate muscle activation (abdomen, buttocks and even arms) is precisely the philosophy of what is known as

, a discipline that is becoming increasingly popular as a method of exercising physically and mentally (eye, because practiced with friends is a more than effective therapy).

So, what are we left with, the

or the

?

Are both equally good for health or does one of them have more benefits than the other?

Well, those are precisely the questions that have been answered by a team of researchers from the University of Sydney (Australia) and the University of Southern Denmark in the largest study carried out to date on the subject.

Published in JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology, this research has shown that actually completing those

reduces the risk of

, reducing the chances of dying from any of the these causes.

After monitoring 78,500 adults

, it was observed that just taking

seen for cardiovascular disease and cancer incidence;

and a

was associated with a

from any cause (the optimal dose would be 9,800 steps).

However, and here comes the crux of the matter, these scientists were able to verify that walking at

, such as that achieved in 'power walking', is more interesting, from the point of view of the benefits it provides, to take those

recommended steps.

"The bottom line here is that

health benefits, people need to not only aim for that ideal of taking 10,000 steps a day, but also

," says study co-senior author Matthew Ahmadi. researcher at the University of Sydney.

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