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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 20 LIFESTYLE July 18, 2025 Just 30 Minutes A Day Of ‘Japanese Walking’ May Help You Get In Shape W alking can be a go-to solution for many of life’s challenges. Whether you’re stressed, de- pressed or simply need a low-impact way to get in shape, walking can help. As one of the most accessible exercise options out there, it’s suitable for a variety of people. One particular technique, known as interval walking training (IWT) or “Japanese walking,” is getting renewed attention after going viral on TikTok. Nearly 20 years ago a team led by Hiroshi Nose and other researchers from Japan published a study that found that middle-aged and older people who did high-intensity interval walking had lower blood pressure, stronger thigh muscles, and better aerobic capacity than walkers the same age who kept a more moderate, continuous pace. In the study, the volunteers did three minutes of fast walking followed by three minutes at a slower pace, for 30 minutes per day at least four days per week. “One of the most surprising findings was that IWT markedly increased physical fitness and decreased blood pressure after the 5-month intervention whereas these improvements were not observed in the moderate-in- tensity continuous walking group,” said Shizue Masuki, a researcher on the team and professor at Shinshu Univer- sity Graduate School of Medicine in Matsumoto. (The people in the control group aimed to take at least 8,000 steps a day, although a specific step goal, like the often- cited 10,000 per day, is no longer considered to be the holy grail of healthy walking.) IWT got its nickname because the study was conduct- ed in Japan, but the walking technique isn’t necessarily more popular in Japan than anywhere else, Masuki said. THE BENEFITS OF INTERVAL WALKING TRAINING Since that report, which came out in 2007, more recent studies have been published, including one in 2023 of people with Type 2 diabetes and another in 2024 of peo- ple 65 and older. Those found that walkers who did IWT had improved cholesterol, flexibility, BMI and cardiore- spiratory endurance compared to control groups. “When you increase your intensity of walking or other exercise that raises your heart rate, it’s helpful to cardio- vascular health and increases aerobic capacity. It puts healthy stress on the heart, which increases its capacity to function better and decreases resting blood pressure,” said Mir Ali, general and bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif. “Once you’re settled down from that increase, over time, your blood pressure improves.” Masuki said that additional studies by her team have also shown that the walking technique has benefits for sleep, cognitive function and depression. “Mindful walking, especially in green space, has been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce cortisol, improve focus and sleep, and help regulate mood,” said Barbara Walker, an integrative health and performance psycholo- gist at University of Cincinnati Health. “When paired with an interval walking approach, it becomes even more psychologically impactful: blending the benefits of nature exposure with the motivational structure of achievable physical goals.” HOW HARD IS INTERVAL WALKING TRAINING? Of course, the best workout is the one you’ll actually do. And you might wonder, if fast walking is so great, why not just do that for 30 minutes? IWT seems to be more doable than walking at an intense pace the entire time, said Masuki. Her research team instructed one group of their middle-aged and older subjects to walk continuously at the high intensity level for 30 minutes a day. “However, no one completed the program, and they complained that the program was too boring and too difficult,” she said. Most studies have found about 60 to 90 percent of people can achieve the goals of IWT. One factor might be the amount of time it takes. For some, walking goals that require hours of accumulating steps throughout the day might even be discouraging because it takes too long. “While doing 10,000 steps can improve blood pressure, sugar control and even lipid levels, doing interval walking for a shorter time can do the same benefits and more,” said Patrick Fratellone, a preventative cardiologist in New York City and Fairfield, Connecticut. HOW TO TRY INTERVAL WALKING – Start slowly and carefully All of our experts shared a common piece of advice – start slow. You don’t have to jump into 30-minute interval sessions right away. Ali said even 15 minutes twice per day is still beneficial, and you can still try those intervals within that. Work up to the recommended amount of exercise for adults in the U.S. – 150 minutes of physical activity each week, for example, by doing 30 minutes at a time, 5 days per week. Adding in two days of muscle- strengthening activity would help meet the federal guide- lines for exercise. As always, talk to your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. “We shouldn’t take a previously sedentary person and put them in a high-intensity interval training program,” said Sarah Crawford, a physical therapist in Cincinnati. “That’s why practices like mine stay in business.” – Use unofficial metrics In the 2007 study, the volunteers aimed to do three minutes of walking at 70% of their peak aerobic capacity or VO2 max, which is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen the body can process, followed by three min- utes at 40% of their peak aerobic capacity. While some fitness trackers will give you this number, a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t really be able to talk for the whole three “fast” minutes in IWT, Craw- ford said. For the slower interval, she said you should be able to maintain a conversation, but also keep a sweat going. She sometimes recommends patients choose a land- mark, like mailboxes, and walk past the first 10 quickly, then the next 10 more slowly. –Watch for improvements Your heart rate and breathing recovery may improve over time, Crawford said. Pay attention to when you re- cover enough to do another quick interval, she said. “How long do we stay there [at 70 percent], and how long does it take at the 40 percent threshold to recover enough to go back up into that 70 percent again?” Regardless of the type of walking you try, you’re bound to see benefits, said Crawford: “Walking is safe, low im- pact, easily accessible, getting somebody out in Earth and off a computer, in feedback with trees and plants and ani- mals,” she said. “It has sun exposure, light exposure, and sensory overdrive of being outside. It is, hands down 100 percent the best form of exercise for all human beings.”. - Special to TheWashington Post PHOTO:AjayGhosh,AAPI A walkathon held during the Jan. 6-8, 2023, AAPI Global Health Summit held in Vishakapatnam. By Alexandra Frost 10 Ways To Keep Your Home Cool This Summer T o protect your home from floods and fire, you can raise the house out of harm’s way or establish an ember-resistance zone around the dwelling. But how do you safeguard your home against extreme heat, an increasingly frequent climate-driven threat that now strikes historically temperate regions? “Even here, it’s definitely a leading concern,” says Chris Magwood, who’s an Ontario, Canada-based sustainable construction expert for RMI, a nonprofit that promotes decarbonization. If you’re building a new house, you can bake heat- resilience into the structure, while existing homes can be retrofitted with temperature-reducing features. Here are some of the most effective steps you can take to keep your home cool. COOL DOWN ROOFS AND WALLS A lighter color is better when it comes to a home’s roof and walls. The material doesn’t matter – a “cool roof” (1) can be made of asphalt shingles, metal or tile - as long as it’s light-colored so it reflects solar radiation away from the house. Such roofs can lower indoor temperatures from 2.2F to 5.9F (1.2–3.3C), according to the US Environ- mental Protection Agency. Cool walls (2) are painted a light color or are covered by light-colored siding. Some paints are made with ingre- dients that reflect non-visible infrared radiation, which allows homeowners to use darker or more vibrant colors. “A solar-reflective wall can go a long way to preventing heat from entering the building,” says Audrey McGar- rell, communications manager for the Cool Roof Rating Council, a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon. “Cool roofs and cool building exteriors are really low-hanging fruit in terms of something that you can do to instantly improve the resilience of your home.” INSULATE THE WALLS Magwood lives in a straw-bale house he built. “It’s 38 degrees Celsius [100F] outside right now, but I’m really nice and cool,” he says from Ontario. Traditional straw- bale homes (3) are built by plastering stacked straw bales. It’s more common now, though, for straw to be the insu- lating material in prefabricated wall panels. The thick straw and plaster keep heat at bay. “It actu- By ToddWoody - Continued On Page 22