WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Almost 60% of adult Americans said they took a walk over the past week for leisure, and maybe even some healthy exercise, a new federal tally finds.

Data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey, a representative sampling of U.S. households, found that last year “58.7% of adults walked for leisure in the past 7 days,” although just who was walking and who stayed on the couch varied.

Gender made a difference: While 60.5% of women said they walked for leisure, that was true for 56.9% of men. 

Younger Americans were more likely to perambulate for pleasure than older generations.  

“The percentage of adults who walked for leisure decreased with increasing age, from 61.8% of adults ages 18-44 and 59.1% of adults ages 45-64 to 51.6% of adults age 65 and older,” say a team led by Dzifa Adjaye-Gbewonyo of the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. 

Income seemed to matter: As incomes rose, the percentage of people who said they regularly walked for leisure climbed as well. For example, while more than two-thirds of people (67.2%) in the wealthiest tier did so, that fell to less than half (46.9%) for adults with family incomes below the federal poverty level, the report found.

Similar trends were seen with education, with the more highly educated walking for pleasure and exercise more often than less-educated adults.

By race, Asian Americans walked the most (63.8%), followed by whites (61.5%), Hispanics (53.5%) and Black Americans (49.2%), the survey found. 

Of course, millions of Americans find themselves walking simply to get from point A to point B.  The NCHS report found 16.2% of adults saying they walked “for transportation,” and unlike leisure walking, rates of transportation walking tended to rise as incomes fell. 

“For many people, walking is considered a relatively easy and accessible physical activity for achieving health benefits,” the report’s authors wrote. 

The American Heart Association agrees, noting on its website: “The simplest way to get moving and improve your health is to start walking. It’s free, easy and can be done just about anywhere, even in place.”

The AHA adds that “any amount of movement is better than none. And you can break it up into short bouts of activity throughout the day. Taking a brisk walk for five or ten minutes a few times a day will add up.”

More information

Find out more about walking’s health benefits at the Mayo Clinic.

SOURCES: NCHS Data Brief, July 31, 2024; American Heart Association

A new study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, titled “Inhalation of hydrogen-rich gas before acute exercise alleviates exercise fatigue,” has found a possible novel intervention for exercise-induced fatigue. A cross-discipline international team of U.S. and Chinese researchers, including at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, has found that inhaling hydrogen-rich gas (HRG) before engaging in acute exercise can significantly reduce fatigue and enhance performance.

The research involved 24 healthy adult men who were tested for their maximum cycling power (Wmax) and maximum cycling time (Tmax). In a double-blind, counterbalanced, randomized and crossover design, participants inhaled either HRG or placebo gas (air) for 60 minutes before cycling at 80% Wmax until exhaustion.

Key findings from the study include:

• Reduced perceived fatigue: Participants who inhaled HRG reported significantly lower scores on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for fatigue compared to those who inhaled placebo gas.
• Improved exercise performance: HRG inhalation improved cycling frequency during the final 30 seconds of the exercise and reduced the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) at both the beginning and end of the ride.
• Oxidative stress markers: HRG inhalation showed a significant improvement in the ability to inhibit hydroxyl radicals and lower serum lactate levels after exercise, indicating reduced oxidative stress.
• Functional performance: While HRG did not significantly impact counter-movement jump (CMJ) height or glutathione peroxidase activity, the overall benefits on fatigue and oxidative stress markers were notable.

“The study’s findings suggest that HRG inhalation prior to exercise could be a valuable strategy for athletes and fitness enthusiasts looking to enhance performance and recovery. By mitigating fatigue and improving markers of oxidative stress, HRG has the potential to support more effective training and better overall health outcomes,” said Junhong Zhou, Ph.D., assistant scientist II, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife.

The study opens new avenues for exploring the benefits of hydrogen-rich gas in sports and exercise science. As further research continues, HRG inhalation may become a widely adopted practice for enhancing athletic performance and combating exercise-induced fatigue.

Provided by
Hebrew SeniorLife Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research

You hear about it here and there.

A triathlete riding his bike suddenly suffers life-threatening distress. A golfer has a heart attack while golfing. A young athlete, perfectly healthy, collapses on the court. Famously, trainer Bob Harper of The Greatest Loser fame, had a massive heart attack while lifting weights and is only alive today because a doctor happened to be there to perform CPR.

These stories appear periodically in the news, or someone you know tells you about something they heard along these lines. Most often, the cause is heart-related, and generally any pre-existing heart issues were previously unknown. (Bob Harper was unaware of his genetic history of a cholesterol abnormality.)

In the last year or so, I’ve been thinking a lot more about my own potential sudden demise while working out. I mean, it could happen, right? This is a first for me. Obviously, suffering a heart-related incident is a risk of exercise of which I am well aware — in my line of work you have to assume it could happen at any time to any of your clients. I was CPR-certified for many years and kept an AED in the training facility because it is that much of a risk. There has never been an issue in all these years, for which I am so grateful!

But, until now, I’ve never worried about it for myself. It only dawned on me a few months ago that I’m now at an age where this is something that might behoove me to consider. (As an emphatic reminder, regardless of your age, if you have never worked out or done any kind of intense activity, you should always consider your heart and lung health prior to starting a workout program!)

Why is this coming up now? I think as a normal process of aging we begin to think and feel differently about our own capabilities. Yes, I’m older, and perhaps no longer can I take for granted how much more our younger bodies can handle. Also, I’m ramping up intensity in cardio after some downtime. (Peloton is a wonderful workout but it asks a lot of your cardiovascular system!) And, in this last year I have witnessed so many who have lost loved ones to illness/incidents or have been diagnosed with random serious health issues that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Anything can happen at any time, and it does.

And then there is my own significant family history of heart issues that I remined blissfully unaware of until, five years ago, when my mother found herself in the ER in India after two days of “indigestion,” which was diagnosed as myocardial infarction — one artery fully blocked. Turns out both of her brothers and her father have had heart issues; I was subsequently informed by my cousin!

Between that and my vegetarian, teetotaling, mostly organic, non-GMO-food-eating father dying of stage four colon cancer less than two months post-diagnosis, I now think a lot differently about my own mortality! It’s not that I don’t take good care of myself, I do. But so did my parents . . . .

These experiences can make you think more about what you and your body, which we all tend to take for granted, can truly handle. Perhaps this same awareness makes you take a little better care of this precious body in which you reside, the only one you’ve got.

Let’s review how you can best care for yourself while still allowing yourself a good and challenging workout.

1. Be not afraid. Exercise will always improve your overall health, wellness, quality of life and yes, longevity. There are risks of injury and death inherent in exercising, yes. But getting in your car every day also carries risk, and we still drive regularly. Work out smarter, not harder.

2. Exercise is inherently stressful, depending on your choice of programs. Biking will be harder on your body than gardening but will provide greater overall benefits. Lifting heavier weights provides greater muscle development and strength gains than lifting lighter weights. Any movement is good movement, regardless.

3. Get checked out by a medical professional prior to starting or restarting and exercise program, especially if you are sedentary or older (older means if you have any doubts at all about how you might react to challenging your body with exercise). It’s true they cannot completely rule out something happening at some point. But it provides a good foundation and some peace of mind.

4. Start with minimal intensity. Shorter duration of activity, less resistance, slower movement. Your body needs to understand you will be asking it to do more, but not so much that it puts you over the edge where it can’t keep up. There are so many benefits to exercise at any level of intensity, so err on the side of caution.

5. Know and listen to yourself. If you don’t feel right, or you feel sick, or you are having trouble catching your breath, you must listen to your body. Don’t push through, or say to yourself, “I’ll just finish this workout” or ignore the signals. When in doubt, back off.

6. Take a step back if necessary. If you’ve taken a week off, or aren’t feeling 100%, or are distracted, it’s okay to do less or lift lighter or choose a different kind of activity for that occasion. Our bodies don’t function optimally all the time, and our workouts don’t need to be the most challenging or intense every time. Your physical and mental health will thank you!

7. Find an experienced coach. This works both ways — a good coach will push you but also offer objectivity in how much you should and shouldn’t challenge yourself. We can all use perspective, guidance and support.

As a natural consequence of aging, your body simply cannot function as optimally as it used to. Even if you’re in the greatest shape, you must make concessions to being older that you didn’t have to do when you were younger. Nor can you ever go wrong at any age being aware of the inherent risks of exercise and taking action to mitigate those risks.

Few of us, including me, probably need to worry about dropping dead during a workout. But if doing so makes us care for our own health and well-being more conscientiously and carefully, then a little awareness of our own mortality can be a positive force!

— By Pritam Potts

Coach Pritam Potts is a writer and strength coach. After many years of training athletes and clients of all ages as co-owner of Edmonds-based Advanced Athlete LLC, she now lives in Dallas, Texas. She writes about health & fitness, grief & loss, love & life at www.mrsathlete.net and www.advancedathlete.com.