The lack of effectiveness of 18 weeks of accumulative short bouts of brisk walking upon the function of the heart

Abstract

Cardiac function generally deteriorates with increasing age, although recent research has found a reversal in this decline in a group of middle‐aged individuals after 18 weeks of brisk walking in single daily bouts of between 20‐40 minutes. Government guidelines advocate accumulative short bouts of exercise for the promotion of health. The purpose of this study was to determine whether accumulative short walking bouts were as effective at producing changes in cardiac function as those previously found from single daily bouts. Presents the results of post‐intervention ANCOVA statistical analysis of 64 healthy men and women, aged 40‐68 years, who were not habitual exercisers, who were randomly divided into matched groups of either short walkers or controls who were also not habitual exercisers.

Citation

Woolf‐May, K., Ferrett, D., Owen, A. and Bird, S. (2003), "The lack of effectiveness of 18 weeks of accumulative short bouts of brisk walking upon the function of the heart", Health Education, Vol. 103 No. 4, pp. 239-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654280310485573