• Silly walks: An urgent practic...

Treffer: Silly walks: An urgent practical solution to the inactivity and obesity pandemics.

Title:
Silly walks: An urgent practical solution to the inactivity and obesity pandemics.
Authors:
Gaesser GA; College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA., Angadi SS; Department of Kinesiology, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA., Poole DC; School of Health Sciences and Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA.
Source:
Experimental physiology [Exp Physiol] 2025 Dec; Vol. 110 (12), pp. 1751-1761. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Nov 22.
Publication Type:
Journal Article; Review
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9002940 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1469-445X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09580670 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Exp Physiol Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Publication: Cambridge, Eng : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Cambridge ; New York, NY, USA : Published for the Physiological Society by Cambridge University Press, c1990-
MeSH Terms:
Obesity*/physiopathology , Obesity*/prevention & control , Obesity*/epidemiology , Energy Metabolism*/physiology , Walking*/physiology, Humans ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Oxygen Consumption/physiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult ; Pandemics ; Sedentary Behavior ; Exercise/physiology
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Grant Information:
R15 HL137156 United States HL NHLBI NIH HHS; R15 AG078060 United States AG NIA NIH HHS; HLBI HL137156 United States NH NIH HHS; NIA 1R15AG078060 United States NH NIH HHS; NIA R01AG075556 United States NH NIH HHS; R01 AG075556 United States AG NIA NIH HHS; Johnson Cancer Research Center, Kansas State University; Elizabeth Chapin Burke Chair of Health & Human Sciences; R01-HL-091006 National Institutes of Health HLBI; Sustained Momentum for Investigators with Laboratories Established (SMILE)
Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: Monty Python; cardiorespiratory fitness; exercise; maximal oxygen uptake; obesity; silly walk
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20251122 Date Completed: 20251201 Latest Revision: 20251204
Update Code:
20251204
PubMed Central ID:
PMC12665940
DOI:
10.1113/EP093233
PMID:
41273705
Database:
MEDLINE

Weitere Informationen

To assess whether the increased energy cost of silly walking (SW) could enhance physical activity, reduce obesity and extend health span, we retrospectively analysed data from 13 healthy adults (seven males, six females; age 22-71 years) who performed three walking trials. Oxygen uptake ( INLINEMATH ; in millilitres of O <subscript>2</subscript> per kilogram per minute), energy expenditure (EE; in kilocalories per minute) and cost per distance (in joules per kilogram per metre) were measured via expired ventilation and gas exchange. Trials included normal walking and two SWs, replicating Monty Python's Michael Palin and John Cleese in the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch (1971). Although both Cleese and Palin SWs evinced greater cost per distance, only the Cleese SW elevated INLINEMATH compared with normal walking (28 ± 5 vs. 11 ± 3 mL/kg/min; EE, +8.0 ± 2.3 and +5.2 ± 0.8 kcal/min in males and females, respectively). Replacing 1-3 min/day of normal walking with the Cleese SW would require an extra energy expenditure of 12 kcal/day (∼4400 kcal/year), approximately twice the energy equivalent of excess weight gain sufficient to explain the obesity pandemic. The EE associated with SW, requiring no additional physical activity, could potentially eliminate future weight gain and, with a modest extra investment of merely 6-23 min/day, SW could redress the obesity pandemic entirely. Crucially, increasing physical activity by SW is expected to elevate cardiorespiratory fitness ( INLINEMATH ), thereby diminishing inactivity-related diseases considerably. Combined with weight loss, relative INLINEMATH gains could reach ∼90%. If SW had been adopted in the 1970s, the global obesity crisis might have been prevented, or at least greatly attenuated, along with commensurate improvements in fitness and health span.
(© 2025 The Author(s). Experimental Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.)