Want To Live Longer? Walk Just This Many Minutes “for Pleasure,” Says New Study

Walking is one of those exercises many of us love to do, especially when life gets back into more of a routine in the fall. National experts recommend identifying an exercise, or several, that you find pleasing for at least 150 minutes per week. However, only 24% of American adults meet the guidelines for aerobic and muscle strengthening exercise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out. Add to that the evidence that one in five adults in all but four US states participate in no physical activity at all, outside of work.

Concerned about the growing trend of inactivity, The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that sedentary behavior, otherwise known as sitting, is a “leading cause of disease and disability” worldwide. They attribute over two million global deaths to sedentary habits each year.

These findings have inspired researchers to get moving and assess the benefits of participating in minimal exercise compared to inactivity. The results, so far, are enlightening.

One such study was published in September 2024 in the journal BMC Medicine. Medical researchers in China aimed to evaluate the connection between sedentary behavior and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality. In particular, the research team looked at how various levels of physical activity impact one’s risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory diseases.

To investigate their topic, the researchers conducted two prospective cohort studies using data from a total of more than 524,000 participants.

The team ultimately found that it took very little physical activity to begin moving the needle on longevity. Perhaps most notably, they determined that replacing sitting with walking “for pleasure” for as little as 30 minutes per day reduced the subjects’ risk of all-cause mortality by 5.1%.

The American Heart Association (AHA) adds that walking is “one of the easiest” forms of exercise: “For most people, it’s safe, easy to stick with and low- or no-cost. It doesn’t require any special skills or equipment,” they note.

Walking can also come with big benefits in a relatively short amount of time. The AHA says you may experience better sleep, improved cognition, lower blood pressure, more stable blood sugar, more energy, fewer mood disorders, better bone strength, and less difficulty maintaining a healthy weight.

Though the benefits of walking are abundant, the researchers behind the study also noted that when subjects participated in higher-intensity activities such as strenuous sports, they saw their risk of mortality due to all-cause, heart disease, and respiratory diseases fall by 8%, 12.5%, and 65.3%, respectively. In other words, in general: The more you do, the more you stand to gain.

So, whether you pick up a sport, join a gym, or simply take your dog for a walk, know that every little bit of movement matters. Those steps could lead you to a longer, healthier life.

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