This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Joshua Mixson about the health benefits of walking and fast walking, especially in the older adult years. Dr. Mixson is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and an internist and geriatrician at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Older adults who walk regularly as part of their fitness routine gain a wide assortment of health and mental health benefits. Doctor Josh Mixson is here to provide the details. Doctor Mixson is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, and he's an internist and geriatrician at MUSC. Doctor Mixson. Tell us about the many health benefits and wellness benefits that come along from a regular routine of walking, especially in the older adult years.
Dr. Mixson: Yeah, there are many health benefits that come along with regular walking, including reducing mortality rate, increasing cognitive function, lowering your risk of cognitive decline and dementia, lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease like heart disease, stroke, improving your functional status. So, helping prevent frailty, keeping you independent, improving quality of life and also mental health benefits. So, lowering anxiety, lowering depression and can improve your sleep quality as well.
Conner: That's quite a long list of benefits from walking.
Dr. Mixson: Absolutely. Yeah. It's really amazing that something so simple can have so many benefits for your health. I think one of the other great things about walking is that you can do it with a friend or family member. You can work in social activity. We know that maintaining social activity is greatly important for mental health as we age, as well as for longevity.
Conner: And how much walking is ideal or needed to reap some of these benefits that we're talking about.
Dr. Mixson: So, the recommended amount currently from the World Health Organization is to shoot for 150 minutes of moderate exercise, which would be similar to a brisk walking pace per week. So that could be 30 minutes, five days a week. You could do 20 minutes every day and get close to that. I think the biggest take home message is, any bit of exercise is going to be helpful and can still have benefit in all those ways that we talked about earlier.
Conner: And what about the pace of walking? Are we improving health even at a very leisurely or kind of slow pace?
Dr. Mixson: We are. Yeah. So even a leisurely pace is beneficial. It's really about taking it at your own pace, what you're comfortable with and what is enjoyable for you to do.
Conner: Doctor Mixon, tell us the benefits of fast walking for older adults who choose this as their walking routine.
Dr. Mixson: So, this is an interesting topic. So, fast walking is being studied and is actually shown to provide even more benefit than slower walking. If you're able to do that. If you're not, that's perfectly fine. But if you are, and you're able to walk at a more brisk pace, that has shown to reduce mortality rates even more, as well as a significant impact on lowering your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. And to have even more cardiovascular benefit.
Conner: And is walking on a treadmill a good substitute for days when we're not able to walk outdoors?
Dr. Mixson: Absolutely. I think especially keeping in mind how hot it is and humid it is in the summer, the treadmill can be a great option to be able to stay cool. You also get the benefit of knowing how long you've been walking and how far you're walking.
Conner: Doctor Mixson, thanks for talking with us about the benefits of walking regularly in the older adult years.
Dr. Mixson: Thank you for having me.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
