Putting Activity in Your Day

Daily activities like gardening or taking the stairs are good for your heart, lengthen life, and keep you mobile.

Few of us take advantage of the closest thing we have to a magic bullet — exercise — for preventing or controlling heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and a host of other physical woes.

If you can't stand the thought of toiling hamster-like on a treadmill, walking purposefully around a mall, or doing other forms of formal exercise, take heart: Daily activity matters, too. So walk the dog. Mop the floor. Take the stairs. Garden. Go dancing. A quartet of studies published in 2006 support the idea that doing whatever you can to burn more calories each day can help you live longer with less pain and a healthier heart and blood vessels.

Active Evidence

The "no pain, no gain" philosophy once dominated exercise recommendations. Vigorous workouts, we were told, were what we needed. Since the mid-1990s, that advice has been elbowed aside by "no sweat," which says that moderate activities such as brisk walking are equally good for you. In part, experts have offered "no sweat" recommendations because they weren't having much luck getting people to exercise vigorously. They hoped that lowering the intensity would encourage more people to be active. Now there's mounting evidence for no sweat's benefits.

Activity lengthens life. In most studies, researchers have to rely on participants' memories (and truthfulness) about their exercise and physical activity. In an effort to measure activity directly, a team funded by the National Institute on Aging asked 302 seventy-somethings to drink water made with "heavy" hydrogen and oxygen. Two weeks later, the researchers measured how much of these elements remained in the volunteers' bodies. From this they were able to calculate how many calories the volunteers burned each day over and above what they needed to keep their bodies running. Over the next six years, 25% of those in the low-energy group (who had burned under 520 calories a day in activity or exercise) died, compared with just 12% of those in the high-energy group (who had burned more than 770 calories a day). The most active seniors didn't exercise any more than the least active. Instead, they were more likely to take the stairs, work for pay, or do other daily activities.

Walk the dog. Nearly half of dog owners walk their pets for at least 30 minutes a day, exactly the amount the Surgeon General recommends for exercise. A big, energetic pooch can tug you along at a pace that more than qualifies as moderate exercise. Even if you have a smaller or less lively dog, two or three daily 10-minute walks are far better than sitting.

Move early. A long-term study from the Chianti region of Italy indicates that adults who are active during midlife are more likely to have better mobility and fewer physical limitations in their 70s. (The researchers didn't mention if drinking the local wine made a difference.)

Shake a leg. Leg pain when walking, caused by cholesterol-clogged arteries, plagues millions of Americans. Not only does it limit what they can do, but it also substantially increases their chances of having a heart attack or dying early of cardiovascular disease. Formal exercise programs are one way to battle this condition, also known as peripheral artery disease and claudication. It turns out that daily activity also helps. Using a type of motion sensor known as an accelerometer, Northwestern University researchers measured a week's worth of daily activity in 460 men and women with peripheral artery disease. Those who racked up the most "activity units" were far less likely to have had a cardiovascular event — a heart attack, surgery to open or bypass a blocked artery, or hospitalization for chest pain or heart failure — over the next five years or to have died during that period. Most of the motion came from walking to the store, climbing the stairs, or other daily activities, not from formal exercise.

What It's Worth

"Make exercise part of your day." It certainly sounds simple. But you know it's easier said than done. There are plenty of obstacles, like arthritic joints, lack of time, difficulty finding a safe or convenient place to work out, or leg or chest pain when you move too fast. If you can't get beyond the barriers to exercise, try adding activity. You don't need to check with your doctor, buy equipment, go anywhere special, or set aside blocks of time. Just try moving more throughout the day.

A half-hour of vacuuming or sweeping the sidewalk burns 110–180 calories, depending on your weight (see table). A half-hour of waltzing or other slow ballroom dancing burns 80–140 calories. Folk or square dancing twirls it up to 125–200 calories. That's also how much you can burn during a half-hour of general gardening or playing the drums. Push a wheelchair for 15 minutes, and say goodbye to 60–90 calories.

What about climbing stairs? The average person uses 10 calories a minute doing this. It isn't much, but that's the point — doing little things constantly throughout the day is a good way to burn through extra calories.

The health benefits of activity begin to kick in at around 100 calories a day. That's the equivalent of walking a mile or square dancing for 15–30 minutes. The more energy you expend, the better. A long-term study of Harvard alumni showed the lowest death rates in those who burned about 300 calories a day in exercise or activity.

If you tend to be a sitter, adding "activity bits" during the day is a great way to start burning more calories, lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, and keep you mobile.