Subscribe to our newsletter. This is the first large-scale study in women that proves walking can significantly and effectively reduce a woman's risk of coronary disease. The study was conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and measured the association between total physical activity, walking, vigorous exercise , and the incidence of coronary events among more than 72,000 women who were between 40 and 65 years old at the start of the study in 1986.
Heart disease kills more women annually than men.
Over 500,000 women die of coronary events while less than 460,000 men succumb to heart disease each year. The number of women dying of heart disease is rapidly increasing. This new study could potentially save the lives of one-third of the women who die each year. Walking at a speed of 3.5 to 5 miles per hour or a 15 minute mile is all it takes, and it's never too late to start. The study found that sendentary women who became active in mid-life or later had a lower risk of coronary events than women who remained inactive.