Health Alert 245
Dear Subscriber:
For years you’ve heard, “Take the stairs.” Maybe you already take the stairs when you’re going up. But do you take the stairs when you’re going down? You might think, “That’s not much of a workout so I’ll just take the elevator.”
Today I’ll tell you about surprising new research about walking downhill. When you see this, you might change your mind.
The health and vitality of people living in and around mountain ranges is legend. Some say it’s the clean, fresh air. Others say it’s just healthy living. But new research from Austria says it’s the mountain terrain itself.
But this research was different from other research on exercising – they measured triglycerides levels, cholesterol, and blood sugar in people who went either up or down the steep mountains of the Austrian Alps.
Two separate groups walked up or down the mountain – one group took a tram up to the top of the mountain and walked down it while the other walked all the way up the mountain and then rode down on the tram.
Knowing how easy walking downhill is and the lack of exertion experienced by most people when walking downhill, researchers believed the first group that only walked downhill wouldn’t experience the benefits of the exercise.
They were wrong. In fact, the researchers found that not only did this group lower bad cholesterol levels but they also improved their ability to handle sugars – unlike the group who walked only uphill.
This study once again proves that exercise is not all one thing. It is a group of related tools. The result you get depends on the specific exercise tool you employ. As another example, you can get excellent cardiovascular results with very short bursts rather than the traditional aerobic exercise. Research by a Scandinavian physiologist Karvonen way back in the 50s and 60s proved that just seven to eight minutes of exercise strengthens the heart and begins the process of breaking down plaque buildup and reducing lipid levels like bad cholesterol. All you have to do is get your heart pumping to see the results.
Short, high-intensity interval exercise is most effective at burning fat and increasing your good HDL cholesterol. I’ve spent a lot of time discussing these and my PACE program in previous Health Alerts (Health Alerts 28, 58, 146, and 180).
Now it’s time for you to try it for yourself. And it couldn’t be simpler, easier and better for you – especially if you’re struggling to start an exercise routine that builds muscle and benefits your heart.
Take 10 minutes right now and get started by finding the nearest elevator and taking it to the top floor. Then walk or jog down the stairs to the bottom. Keep a watch with you and keep track of your time. Take the elevator back up to the top and walk down the stairs again.
There. You’re done! Wasn’t that simple and easy. That’s all you have to do to begin a program of effective interval training. As you slowly increase your pace, you’ll increase the number of laps you can do in the same amount of time.
Just by taking 10 minutes today, you’ll take a huge step in increasing your cardiovascular health and preventing heart disease and even diabetes. Keep it up and you’ll soon be running up and down the stairs with less effort and more speed. Make sure you mix it up. The body gets used to doing the same thing repeatedly. My PACE program recommends varying the exercise and your pace, intensity and duration.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears MD
1 Different Exercise Makes for Different Effects by Maggie Fox, Reauters, November 7, 2004
2 How to Keep From Having A Heart Attack: Do Less Aerobic Exercise, http://www.totalityofbeing.com/ArchivedAerobics.html
3 Sears, Al MD. The Heart Cure, Dragon Door Publishing, 2003.