Walking or running: what is best exercise?

Whether running is best exercise walking, or if instead Walking is better than running, is an issue that has been revealed to scientists for several years. Or at least it did until now: walking is as good and healthy as running.

A study conducted over six years at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, found that running helps you lose weight faster than walking, but both activities are equally healthy because it depends on the intensity of exercise but many calories are burned during it. That is, the study was mainly based on the distance and not in time.

Paul T. Williams, one of the researchers from Berkeley, estimates that "a person would need to walk about seven kilometers at a fast pace for the same amount of exercise that running five kilometers. It would take twice as long, about an hour and fifteen minutes instead of 38 minutes. " When this happens, the risk reduction in high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes is almost equal to the decreased risk having run.

The study described in The New York Times, was made on a universe of 15,237 people walking and 33,215 people who choose to run as a method to keep fit. Upon entering the study, each participant left seated weight, waist measurement, what type of diet was wearing and what mileage each week walking or running.

As time passed, the studies showed that those who kept his body ran better than those who walked. One reason for this effect is the impact they have both exercises on a person's appetite, shown in a study by the University of Wyoming.

This study was conducted on 19 women and consisted of different activities for two occasions: first, the group ran or walked for an hour; in the second, the group rested for one hour. After each activity, the volunteers had at their disposal a table with food and were instructed to eat all they wanted.

At the end, it was revealed that women who walked 50 ate more calories than they burned walking, while running consumed 200 calories less than they burned with exercise. This is because after exercise, brokers have high levels of a hormone called peptide YY, known to suppress appetite. But those who walked did not increase the levels of this hormone, so your appetite remained.

Finally, researchers found that people Barkeley running decreased the risk of developing high blood pressure by 4.2 percent; high cholesterol by 4.3 percent; diabetes by 12.1 percent; and coronary events by 4.5 percent. People walking, however, decreased the risk of having high blood pressure by 7.2 percent; high cholesterol by seven percent; diabetes by 12.3 percent; and coronary events by 9.3 percent.

That is, running and walking are healthy almost equally. Running involves perhaps more effort than walking but walking requires less time and is more accessible, but demands a little more time. It all depends on what our possibilities, times and tastes.