Staying Fit
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Targeted counseling can be effective in getting older Latinas to take steps — literally — to improve their heart health, according to researchers at San Diego State University.
In a study involving more than 250 overweight, sedentary Latinas with an average age of 64, the researchers found greater progress among women participating in a 12-week intervention program focused on making lifestyle changes to improve cardiovascular health than among women who received written advice but did not get intensified counseling.
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"We provided cultural tailoring for the program, adapting an English version of the protocol into Spanish with changes that reflect Latina lifestyles, such as incorporating standing time while completing household chores,” study author Gregory Talavera, M.D., a professor of psychology at the California university, said in a statement. “This program can be done in the home and could benefit women who are unable to participate in traditional physical activity."
At the start of the study, participants spent an average of nine hours a day sitting. Women who participated in the 12-week intervention program reduced that daily sitting time by 71 minutes. Women who did not get counseling cut their sitting time by less than eight minutes daily.
A little stroll can mean a lot
Low-intensity walks appear to have the same benefits as power walks, according to a study from the National Institutes of Health that was published in March.
Certainly, 12,000 steps a day is better than 4,000. The average number of steps daily for the U.S. population is between 4,000 and 5,000, but inactive people may get 2,000 steps or fewer.
Just moving more throughout the day is key. It reduces your risk of falls and premature death.
Participants who received counseling stood up 50 minutes longer — and walked 13 minutes longer — each day, on average. Those who did not get the intervention increased their daily standing time by an average of 2.5 minutes daily and steps by five minutes.
"I think this is incredibly difficult in the time we're living in now with the pandemic, because you may be sitting with your children to do homework, or you may be working from home on your laptop and communicating back and forth to your place of work,” says Ileana L. Piña, M.D., a professor of medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit who is not affiliated with the study. She is on the board of the American Heart Association.
"I have a friend who has a timer. And he sets the timer for X number of minutes. And when he has been sitting for X number of minutes, he stands up and he walks around the room. If you live in a home that has two stories, going up and down stairs is a wonderful exercise,” Piña says. “Or set some music, especially for the Hispanics. We love to dance. Music is in our hearts; it's in our souls. Play some songs that really make you want to dance, and you'll move."
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