The ROI of a Walk

The British Journal of Sports Medicine studied the impact of low physical activity on life expectancy.

Here’s the question they asked…

What happens to life expectancy if someone increases physical activity?

Here’s what they found.

Walking can add years to your life.

• On average, each 60 minutes of walking adds 169 minutes to life expectancy

• The lowest quartile movers can add 10.9 years to their life with 111 minutes/day of walking

• Mid quartile movers can add 5.3 years to their life if they matched the highest quartile movers

Walking can have a positive ROI.

For every one minute I put into it, I can get a 2.8 minute return.

(We settle for less when investing money in the stock market…)

I have three reactions when thinking through a study like this.

1) Walk, and then if the Lord wills…

Health hacks are not guarantees for longevity.

We are a “mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes”.

“Instead, you ought to say ‘If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that…’ ” (James 4:14-15).

2) The cost of inactivity

The correlation of inactivity and life makes me think of this warning in the Proverbs:

“The sluggard’s desire kills him because he refuses to work…”

This study makes me view habitual inactivity due to laziness very differently.

Here’s Matthew Henry’s commentary on how the sluggard’s “craving lust hasten them to an untimely end”.

3) God’s design for movement

God has given us incredible bodies.

And they thrive on movement. They were designed to do it.

What an amazing Creator.

If you liked this, check out the Layman’s Fitness Newsletter, where I release similar content like this every week.