Walk Away Your Diabetes Risk

The older you get, the higher your risk of type 2 diabetes. 

In fact, more than 500,000 older adults are newly diagnosed every single year. 

That’s a staggering number. 

If you want to avoid being counted in this group, there are some critical steps you need to follow, starting today. 

(Keyword here: Steps). 

That’s because you can literally walk away your diabetes risk. 

A recent study used data from the Women’s Health Initiative to look at the connection between physical activity and cardiovascular health in postmenopausal women. 

Women 65 and older who did not have diabetes were asked to wear an accelerometer 24/7 for one week, and then the researchers tracked their health for the next seven years. 

They found that for every 1,000 steps taken per day, there was a six percent lower risk of diabetes. So, 2,000 steps per day would decrease the risk by 12 percent. 

Let’s put that in perspective.  

If the 500,000 people who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes this year had increased their step count by 2,000 steps per day, it would have prevented 60,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes. 

Wow. 

To be clear, that’s 2,000 steps per day in addition to what you’re already doing. Since the average adult takes about 3,000-4,000 steps every day, that brings the total daily step count to 5,000-6,000 steps per day. 

That’s well under the 10,000 steps per day some say you need to take to reduce your risk of disease—and it’s easily doable for most healthy adults. 

The steps didn’t have to be vigorous or intense—and they didn’t have to be done on a “walk.”  

The accelerometers used in the study counted ALL steps, whether you’re walking from the kitchen to the living room, checking the mail, grocery shopping, or playing with your grandkids. 

The point being that the more you move, the better. 

That goes for your overall health, and for your diabetes risk as well.