Have you noticed that at least once a week results from studies focusing on the benefits of physical activity are reported or published?

The latest was published online by The Lancet on December 20, 2013.

The study focused on whether or not an increase in physical activity had any effect on the risk of cardiovascular events in diabetic patients who either had cardiovascular disease or who had an additional cardiovascular risk factor. Cardiovascular events were defined one of the following:

• cardiovascular fatality
• nonfatal stroke
• mycardial infarction (heart attack)

9,306 patients from 40 different countries were studied between January 2002 and January 2004 – they were followed up on for an average of 6 years. To determine their level of physical activity, they wore pedometers at baseline and then again 12 months later.

The results are astounding; for every additional 2, 000 steps taken per day, the risk of cardiovascular events was reduced by 8% — this means that if a person, on average, initially walked about 5,000 steps per day, they could reduce their risk of a cardiovascular event by about nearly 30% by working up to 12,000 steps!