This article originally appeared in Well+Good.
The children's story The Tortoise and the Hare teaches us that "slow and steady wins the race." But in the world of walking, this parable is highly, highly contested. An ongoing and heated argument asks: in the battle of slow walking versus fast walking, which one wins? So we asked a pro (read: a cardiologist; not a tortoise) to give the final verdict.
The first thing to remember, says Michael Weinrauch, MD, a New Jersey-based cardiologist, is that there's no wrong way to walk. (Yes, it's kind of obvious, but it bears emphasizing this point.) "Any walking is better than none, although the minimum dose seems to be 10 uninterrupted minutes," he explains.
Even the smallest walking intervals have been shown to improve your cardiovascular fitness, stave off arthritis in older adults, increase your energy and boost your mood—and the list goes on.