One longer walk a day is better for your heart than lots of short strolls, especially if you don’t exercise much, according to new research published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Walking for at least 15 minutes without stopping is ideal, it says. That’s about 1,500 steps in a row, which gives your heart a good workout. Many people aim for 10,000 steps a day, but that number came from a Japanese pedometer advertisement – not science. Still, experts agree more steps are generally better for your health.The study looked at 33,560 adults aged 40–79 in the UK who walked fewer than 8,000 steps a day.They were grouped by how long their walks were (measured with a step-counter over a week):less than 5 minutes (43%)5 to 10 minutes (33.5%)10 to 15 minutes (15.5%)15 minutes or more (8%)The researchers, from the University of Sydney and the Universidad Europea in Spain, tracked their health over eight years. People who walked in longer stretches had a lower risk of heart problems than those who walked in short bursts.Even among the least active – those walking under 5,000 steps a day – longer walks made a big difference. Their risk of heart disease and death dropped significantly.Whether that’s because they were fitter to begin with isn’t fully clear from the study, but the researchers did try to control for this by taking into account factors like whether the person smoked, was obese or had high cholesterol. The researchers say how you walk matters – not just how much. Walking for longer at a time, even if you don’t walk much overall, appears to help your heart.Simple changes, like setting aside time for a longer walk, could make a big di …
