Walking is a Better than running ?

      ·                                 Walking  is  a  Better  than running ?
        
   

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                 James O'Keefe, 58, is a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO.

                 O'Keefe exercising today, 

              you'll likely spot the MD on a postdinner stroll with his family. 

                He also enjoys practicing yoga or doing some gentle backstrokes in the swimming pool.   What changed? O'Keefe investigated the effects of intense physical activity on the human heart and body. The fruits of his and others' research inspired him to dial down his own routine.

                    "If your goal is exercising for overall health and to improve your longevity, then walking is ideal," he says.  

                     Running Is Hard On Your Heart 

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

                  In one of his studies, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, O'Keefe and his colleagues found that people who run most days of the week at a pace faster than 7 miles per hour have the same risk of death as sedentary individuals.

                  Another study, presented at theEuroPRevent2012 meeting in Dublin, Ireland, found that those who run more than 25 miles per week have no mortality benefit, compared with nonrunners. 

Both studies suggest that moving at a gentler pace—such as a brisk walk or a slow jog—for 1 to 2.5 hours every week lowers your risk of death by 25%.   

                          "We're not meant for sustained levels of exercise for long periods of time," O'Keefe explains. "After 60 minutes of intense physical activity, like running, the chambers of your heart begin to stretch and overwhelm the muscle's ability to adapt." He also says levels of harmful free radicals rise, adrenaline increases, and inflammation occurs inside your coronary arteries. 

                Intense training over the course of many years can also lead to permanent changes in your heart—changes that can set the stage for serious cardiovascular problems, he says. 

                "The increase in blood flow to your heart leads to microtears," he explains. "It's not a big deal if you do it once or twice. They'll heal in a few days. But when you do this over and over again for many years, it causes stiffness and scarring in the heart that can accelerate aging and contribute to congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation." 

                        Run Harder, Get Sicker? 

                         Your heart isn't the only part of you that might suffer from vigorous exercise. Excessive endurance training may also dampen your immune system and increase your risk for illness. 

                          Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign found that prolonged intense activity increases levels of certain inflammatory proteins that can allow viruses—such as the common cold—to thrive. That means you might get sick more frequently, and feel worse during bouts of illness, if you're taxing your body with vigorous exercise on a regular basis.  

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES/BRETT STEVENS

 

                             One example: A recent study in the journal Obesity found that after a full year of aerobic exercise—5 days a week for 45 minutes—overweight or obese women lost just over 2% of their body weight. That leaped to 11% among women who combined exercise with diet changes. 

                          Another study, this one in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that an intense workout boosts women's appetites so much that they tend to eat enough calories to entirely replace the ones they burned. 

                         Exercise is undeniably healthy for you—and in countless ways. But if you think you need to run hard in order to lose weight, there's not much data to back that up.

5 ways walking is better than running

                    Hate to run but love to walk?

              Then rejoice in the study accepted in February by the American Heart Association’s Journal of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, which concluded, “Equivalent energy expenditures by moderate walking and vigorous running exercise produced similar risk reductions for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, and possibly CHD.”

                 In other words, at least according to the study, walking was just as effective as running in relieving stress, high cholesterol and heart disease and diabetes.

              But beyond the parallel benefits, are there times when is walking better than running? (Read: 8 astonishing benefits of walking)

              Yes, but let us explain:

            1. Running can stress the immune system. Walking, unlike running, especially long-distance running, does not seem to tax your immune system. Long-distance runners are more susceptible to developing infections, Dr. Uwe Schutz, from University Hospital of Ulm, Germany, told Reuters Health. Training for or running a marathon not only burns fat but also muscle tissue as well. This places undue burdens on the body’s immune system.

              2. Running can damage your heart. In the journal Circulation, researchers performed echocardiographic measurements of cardiac function in 60 recreational runners before and 20 minutes after the 2004 and 2005 Boston Marathon. What they found was that before the race, none of the runners had elevated serum markers for cardiac stress. After the race, 36 runners, or 60 percent, had elevated markers of a certain triplet of proteins called troponin. Troponin is a major component of cardiac muscle but elevated levels of subtypes of these proteins can lead to cardiovascular damage.

If that’s not enough to discourage a long-distance run, consider that the researchers also discovered that 24 runners (40 percent) developed signs of myocardial necrosis, irreversible damage to heart muscle cells. The researchers also discovered at least 10 studies from 2004 to 2006 alone that documented increases in myocardial damage; there is no evidence that brisk walking can destroy heart muscle or cells.

              3. Running may cause osteoarthritis. The study of risk versus reward when it comes to exercise is ongoing. In terms of the effects that exercising has on our knees, hips and other joints, the verdict is still undecided. It seems that at a certain “dose,” as researchers put it in a study published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, running does not cause osteoarthritis, but after a certain point, reduced risk of disease is offset by an increased risk of injury and osteoarthritis. If you’ve been running for a long time and have had injuries — and most runners have — then you’re more likely to “to deplete the joint of the lubricating glycoproteins, disrupt the collagen network, slowly wear away the cartilage, and cause numerous microfractures in the underlying bones.”

                 4. Running can also damage cartilage. Although authors of a study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine state that there is continuing controversy as to whether long-distance running results in irreversible articular cartilage damage, this specific study concluded that through the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), biochemical changes in articular cartilage remained elevated after three months of reduced activity. The patellofemoral joint and medial compartment of the knee showed the greatest wear and tear, suggesting higher risk for degeneration.

                   5. Running in hot weather can lead to heat stroke. With summer approaching, runners need to be careful not to overdo it. Running in hot weather can lead to multi-organ dysfunction. Although walking in hot weather can also lead to heat stroke, there is probably less chance of developing organ failure when walking versus running.

                Although the benefits of walking are numerous, keep in mind that it’s the minimum someone should do if they want to get in shape; shorter bursts of moderate-intensity exercise is probably the most beneficial way to get fit.

       
      
( source- internate )