Exercise|Start-up costs add up when you travel in small chunks.
If when going for a walk, you stop frequently, for example for the dog to sniff, the beneficial effect of walking on weight control is not affected.
On the contrary, suggests a new study.
The Italian research team found in their experiments that covering the distance in short segments consumes more energy.
When subjects were made to walk on a treadmill and a stepper in a series of 30-second spurts, they consumed 20 to 60 percent more oxygen than if they walked the same distance continuously. Oxygen consumption also tells about energy consumption.
Are i.e. like cars that consume less fuel in steady road driving than in stop-and-go city traffic.
The researchers found that the energy consumption of the walkers was also highest at the start and at the beginning of the walk. After getting up to speed and the body warming up, the consumption decreased.
“We incur a fixed start-up cost, even if we only walk for 10 or 30 seconds,” said the study’s lead author Francesco Luciano from the University of Milan The Guardian – magazine.
Start-up costs accumulate significantly when the journey is made in small chunks.
Researchers according to the information can help to prepare fitness programs, especially for those who find it difficult to move, such as the elderly, the severely obese or those recovering from a cerebral infarction.
So far, the group’s results are preliminary and cannot be generalized to the entire population, as only ten test subjects, all young adults, participated in the measurements.
The study was published In Proceedings of the Royal Society B.