Walk or Run? Energy Use Is What Counts

Walking and running are equally good for your heart, a new study finds. But if you’re a walker, you have to do more of it to get the same benefit as a runner. So concludes the study of 33,000 runners and 16,000 walkers. They were part of two long-running health studies of people devoted to these pursuits. Researchers looked at how many people developed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or heart disease in the next 6 years. Both runners and walkers were less likely to develop these conditions if they used more energy in their daily exercise. For each standard unit of energy used, risk reduction was similar for runners and walkers. But overall the runners were healthier. That’s because, on average, they used more than twice as much energy as walkers did. Researchers said they probably used more energy because they could exercise in less time.