An exerpt from Strong Women newsletter....

[Guest guest]

Happy 1st weeknd of the New Year, hope all your plans are going well.. Rob WALK FOR YOUR HEALTH The New Year often provides a spark for people to make positive changes in their lives. It's a popular time of year for people to start incorporating exercise into their daily routine, but many are confused about how much exercise is needed to have an impact on their health. A recent study provides some guidance. The study examined the relationship between exercise and metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is defined as the presence of three or more of the following conditions: elevated waist circumference, low HDL (good) cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose. People with MetS have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart

attack and stroke, and type 2 diabetes. One hundred seventy-one sedentary men and women between the ages of 45 and 60 completed this study. They were all overweight to mildly obese (body mass index 25 to 35 kg/m2), but none of them had a known history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three different eight-month exercise training groups or to a six-month control group. The exercise training groups differed in amount of exercise, intensity of exercise, or both: One exercise group completed the equivalent of walking about 11 miles per week, the second jogged approximately 11 miles per week, and the third jogged approximately 17 miles per week. The control group did not do any exercise.

None of the subjects made any dietary modifications. As you might have expected, exercise did have an impact on MetS. At the beginning of the study, 41 percent of the subjects who were assigned to an exercise training group met the criteria for MetS. After the eight-month exercise intervention only 27 percent did. But, what you might not have expected is that the people in the study who exercised the least (walking ~11 miles per week) were able to reduce their MetS scores by almost as much as the people who exercised the most (jogging ~17 miles per week). A 30-minute walk six days a week is equivalent to walking 11 miles per week. This is good news. It suggests that improving your health doesn't have to be complicated - all you need to do is walk! Many wishes for a happy and

healthy New Year. Lifting women to better health,Miriam E. , Ph.D.

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