Biking/Brisk Walking Deal Blows to Obesity

A report on obesity that delineates statistics state by state brought us some grim news this week:  in more than half of the fifty states, adults are fatter this year than they were at the same time last year.  The report continues by urging Americans, once again, to take this urgent health care crisis seriously.  When we gain weight, we get sick, pure and simple.  All manner of illness and physical maladies rear their ugly heads; heart disease and diabetes are two of the most debilitating.

And those ailments are the serious ones; overweight also causes mobility problems and can exacerbate arthritis, which also lowers quality of life.

But, there's another new study that has some really good news to counteract the bad when it comes to the obesity trend, at least somewhat.  The Harvard Nurses' Health Study conducted exhaustive research on over 116,000 women during a sixteen year period, and the results are detailed in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study began in 1989 when the women were aged 25-42, and lasted until 2005.  The bottom line is that women who did the equivalent of biking or brisk walking for 30 minutes a day over the above mentioned decade and a half time period either maintained their weight, or lost a few pounds.

The women were given questionnaires regarding their weight, general level of health, and lifestyle.  After factoring in various obesity risk factors, the definitive outcome of the study is that 30 minutes of brisk exercise a day helps keep overweight at bay.  And, this is indeed, good news.