Are you walking to stay young and fit? If not, it may be a lot easier than you think!
We’ve all heard the mantra that reaching ‘10,000 steps’ a day is the golden ticket to better health, but one top antiaging expert suggests that could be a bit of overkill.
Dr. Valter Longo, who leads the University of Southern California Longevity Institute, is at the forefront of aging research. He suggests that adhering to certain lifestyle principles makes it possible to ‘stay young’ well into our later years!
According to Longo, exercise is a must. During a conversation a few years ago with a nutrition journalist, Dr Longo reportedly mentioned that aiming for 10,000 daily steps or climbing 20 flights of stairs is “certainly beneficial.”
However, his more recently his blog indicates that simply walking briskly for an hour each day could suffice. “Walk fast for an hour every day,” Dr Longo wrote online.
“On the weekend, walk everywhere, even faraway places (avoid polluted areas as much as possible).” The NHS notes similar thoughts, suggesting that walking for hours isn’t compulsory to enjoy the perks of mild physical activity.
Even just a “brisk” (around three mph) walk for 10 minutes daily can burn calories and build stamina while potentially strengthening heart well-being. For those uncertain about their pace, the NHS endorses the Active 10 app, which is freely available for smartphones and gives tips on how to speed up your walks.
Professor Claire Steves, an expert in aging from King’s College London, also shared that walking for just under an hour three times per week could significantly bolster brain health.
Speaking on the ZOE Podcast, she previously said: “So, to improve your cognitive health, you need to do more exercise than you’re doing now – up to a point – unless you’re an Olympic athlete.
“That’s the key thing. If we look at really big population studies, we can see effects, even with minimal levels of exercise, and it’s fairly linear. So, whatever you’re doing, if you go up by a third, you’ll be improving yourself.”
Of course, exercise isn’t the only key to staying young and vital. Diet also makes a huge difference. Longo suggests that you eat mostly vegan, plus a little fish, and limit meals with fish to a maximum of two or three per week. Choose fish, crustaceans, and mollusks with a high omega-3, omega-6, and vitamin B12 content (salmon, anchovies, sardines, cod, sea bream, trout, clams, and shrimp. Pay attention to the quality of the fish, choosing those with low levels of mercury.
If you are below the age of 65, keep protein intake low (0.31 to 0.36 grams per pound of body weight). That comes to 40 to 47 grams of protein per day for a person weighing 130 pounds and 60 to 70 grams of protein per day for someone weighing 200 to 220 pounds. Over age 65, you should slightly increase protein intake but also increase consumption of fish, eggs, white meat, and products derived from goats and sheep to preserve muscle mass. Consume beans, chickpeas, green peas, and other legumes as your main source of protein.
