Should you Walk or Run for your Health ?
- Nature Source Chaude
- Published on
- Updated on 24 April 2025
Exercise is often essential when you’re trying to feel better, as it helps the body regenerate. As a result, it can have many benefits, both physically and mentally. But these days, the proliferation of physical exercises can make it difficult to choose the one that’s best for you. Walking can be perceived as boring, not ‘explosive’ enough, not intense enough or too time-consuming. And yet…
In this article I invite you to take a tour into the heart of the human being by looking at a very special organ : the bone. This organ is certainly the least popular among the liver, the intestines, the skin and so on. These organs, known as ’emunctories’, are involved in the elimination of waste.
So why is there so little interest in bone? Perhaps because bone is often seen as an inert organ, when in fact the opposite is true. The more bone is properly exercised, the greater the benefits to the body. So what kind of exercise has the biggest impact on bones?
IN SUMMARY :
Bone, at the heart of the regeneration process
It is important to understand that bone is a living organ. The living structures of bone respond to the stresses they are subjected to and grow stronger the more they are stressed. Bone includes the red marrow found in the ribs, pelvic bones, skull and vertebrae. It’s this red bone marrow that we’ll be focusing on in this article. There is also yellow bone marrow, which is made up of fat. In fact, both are vital.
Overall, the bone marrow is the body’s main cradle for the production of stem cells, which help to regenerate a large number of the body’s cells.
Bone marrow, the body's main regenerative system
Why is it important? Simply because bone marrow stem cells give rise to all blood cells (red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells), bone tissue and connective tissue.
In this way, they make a significant contribution to the repair of many of the body’s cells. This study[1] gives us some figures to illustrate the significant activity that goes on in the bone marrow. A person makes about 10 billion white blood cells, 200 billion red blood cells and 400 billion platelets every day, and loses about the same number every day. The spleen, for example, destroys the same number of red blood cells every day.
What’s more, according to a 2003 meta-analysis[2] that combined a number of studies, their potential for transformation into other cells (liver, kidney, lung, etc.) could be even more greater. In this way, bone marrow could become the body’s main regenerative system.
So how can exercise stimulate bone marrow? Especially as stimulating cell renewal also means replacing old cells with younger, much more active ones.
Two types of physical exercises
Let’s look at two types of exercise that can have very different effects on the bone marrow.
Physical exercises with a dynamic load
Walking is undoubtedly the most beneficial form of exercise for bone marrow stimulation. When a person walks, the bones are subjected to specific mechanical stresses and stimuli. They have to support a dynamic load, i.e. the weight of the person for each step.
The bones also support this weight when the body is subjected to a ‘stride’ or ‘jump’. These movements require you to stand vertically on your bases (your feet). Our brains also have a natural tendency to minimise effort, so it’s often difficult to find the resources to simply stand upright. This is the first difficulty. Standing upright requires a physical effort that uses muscles and bones that are no longer needed in our modern society. Once this sedentary behaviour has been overcome, ‘movement’, through ‘impact’, will deeply stimulate the bones and bone marrow, encouraging the release of stem cells.
A study[3] published in 2018 in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research is the first to show that high-impact physical activity keeps bone marrow younger and less fatty. Healthy red bone marrow can turn into yellow or fatty marrow when stem cell production declines.
Physical activity is particularly important for building bone and preventing bone loss. As mentioned earlier in this article, the exercises that should be favoured are those that enable the bones to bear weight by taking a ‘step’, ‘stride’ or ‘jump’.
These high-impact activities, which combine ‘stepping’, ‘striding’ and ‘jumping’, help to build bone tissue more efficiently and keep bone marrow younger.
An increase in the number of physical exercises with a static load
When the body is subjected to a physical activity with a static load, it is usually on a support.
Nowadays, the proliferation of static-load physical exercises means that it’s even possible to combine different movements in a sitting, lying or even standing position, without needing to move a foot.
Many machines encourage you to work your muscles and cardiovascular system while protecting your joints.
On the other hand, these non-impact physical activities do not effectively stimulate the bones and therefore the bone marrow. In fact, the bone marrow does not seem to release any (or very few) additional stem cells compared to the initial level of stem cells circulating in the blood, as the following study shows.
According to one study[4], the level of stem cell release in the participants was actually too low to be detected after arow testing, although cytokines could be detected in their blood. Cytokines are the body’s response to stress, such as exercise. There are about a hundred cytokines, substances secreted by the immune system. Two cytokines are closely associated with the process of releasing stem cells from the bone marrow : G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) and interleukin 6[5].
Thus, the type, intensity and duration of exercise, as well as an individual’s physical condition, appear to modulate the release of certain cytokines and growth factors.
‘A man who doesn't walk leaves no traces’.
Walking vs. cycling
According to the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, a study[3] shows that people who participated in static-load physical activity such as road cycling with a high training volume had a similar accumulation of adipose tissue (fat) in their bone marrow to that of the ‘sedentary’ group. These two groups even had comparable bone density in the lumbar region.
This can be explained by the fact that cycling (like rowing) is above all a static-load exercise, where the feet remain on a support (pedals) without moving or suffering any impact during the effort.. So, as we have seen, physical activity without impact would not stimulate the bones in any profound way.
Differences between walking and running
The simplest things are often the most profound.
In the past, bones were stimulated on a daily basis because feet were an essential working tool in many, if not most, professions.
The appearance of the first factories in the 19th century gradually changed this dynamic. Today, most jobs are no longer defined by walking. In fact, many new ways of getting around allow us to do as little as possible without our natural mode of locomotion, walking.
In some cases, certain physical activities, such as running, have even replaced walking for a variety of reasons.
However, the two have one thing in common: they are high-impact activities.
But walking is different from running. At least one support point is always in contact with the ground.
The load on the spine is constant and not excessive, providing a more balanced stimulus to the bone marrow. The weight of the person is alternately supported by a single limb, allowing the bones to be subjected to specific stresses. Depending on the type of terrain and the walking speed, the variation in stimuli and the specific stresses imposed on the entire bone and muscle system stimulate a range of varied physiological responses.
Running, on the other hand, requires more energy. Some of this chemical energy is converted into elastic transmission, enabling you to make leaps.
This saves energy but also multiplies the impact on the ground by 2 or 3. Each kilogram of body weight is therefore multiplied by 2 or more. This additional load places a discontinuous stress on the spine, which can sometimes be excessive. It should be taken into account when considering the risk of injury to joints and tendons, even though it normally strengthens them. Running is also harder on your muscles than walking and carries a higher risk of injury.
So, depending on the type of exercise, bones and muscles respond in an anabolic way to the specific mechanical stimuli they receive. These mechanical and hormonal stimuli are important because they closely regulate bone remodelling, which is a continuous process that alternates between resorption and accretion.
As a result, the more the bones are stimulated in a particular way, the more the bone marrow is too. The forces from the ground (in response to the person’s load) which are transmitted in the form of waves to the entire bone and muscle system, vary according to the type of the movement and the ground attack of the foot. Again, the risk of foot injury is higher in runners whose ground attack can be less controlled.
Walking : where to start?
Although less popular than running, moderate-intensity walking can sometimes give slightly better results. As we’ll see, regular walking is a good place to start, even before increasing speed, rhythm or duration.
Walking and the health of your bones
To introduce this part, we’ll look at the right frequency of exercise to get the maximum benefit.
Exercise is particularly important for building bone and reducing bone loss. As mentioned earlier in the article, this refers to exercises enables that enable the bones to bear weight through a ‘step’, ‘stride’ or ‘jump’.
According to a study[6] published in The American Journal of Medicine, bone density and the rate of bone loss in women are linked to their daily walking habits. Women who walked up to 1 mile (1.60 km) a day had higher bone density than those who walked shorter distances.
It should be noted that the amplitude, speed and frequency of the steps are important for the bone to make an adaptive response to mechanical load.
But in this study, walking a very short distance (1.60 km), and especially walking every day, seems to have a beneficial effect on bone tissue. The study does not mention either the speed or the frequency of the steps.
One study [7] shows that ten minutes of brisk (or moderate) walking a day can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
So it’s best to walk every day, as we’ll see in the next part.
Walking vs. running, how many times a week?
Daily walking can help maintain a favourable balance between the rate of stem cell regeneration and depletion, a process that is essential for overall health and well-being. Ideally, the daily production of stem cells should exceed the number of cells used up by the body. However, for this to be possible, the recovery time after physical activity must be short.
Let’s take the extreme case of running a marathon[3]. After a marathon, the bone marrow is strongly stimulated, but for a very short time (less than 24 hours). Although stem cell production is very high (x4), it returns to normal the next morning.
However, such an event may require up to three weeks of recovery and several days of rest. During this time, the bone marrow receives little or no stimulation (unless you walk). What’s more, such an ordeal can be traumatic for the body, which is why it needs high levels of stem cells to repair many injuries. The bone has to repair itself, become denser and stronger in preparation for the next outing. It adapts.
So, regardless of the intensity or duration of physical activity performed the day before, the rate of stem cell production seems to return to normal the next morning. The ideal would therefore be to do a physical activity that can be repeated every day. Walking comes out on top because it not only stimulates the bone marrow on a daily basis, but also allows for optimal recovery, which is not always the case with running. The more often you walk, the more cumulative the benefits.
That’s why it’s important to do a dynamically loaded exercise every day, if possible, and to stick to it over the long term. In addition to the production of stem cells by the bone marrow, a large number of protective molecules are secreted by the body during and after exercise, and these molecules only have a lifespan of 24 hours (or even less) to 48 hours. Once you are used to exercising (walking), you can increase the intensity or duration of your exercise to further enhance the benefits.
The intensity of your walk
A study[8] shows that moderate walking and vigorous running have similar effects on conditions such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.
Once walking has become a regular part of your life, you can increase its benefits by increasing the intensity until you are walking at a moderate pace. The pace at which you walk and the type of terrain you walk on are particularly important factors in maximising the benefits of this activity.
We recommend a dynamic pace of around 4 to 5 km per hour.
Hill training can also catalyse these benefits. The relief of the plains or mountains is generally more difficult for physical activity and requires more effort. Rough and uneven terrain has a more profound effect on the bone marrow, imposing more varied mechanical stresses with each step.
This type of environment often requires greater motor skills and attention on the part of the walker, especially as the environment becomes more mineral. This motricity encourages the body to work more globally and deeply.
Duration of the walk
Also in the study[6] published in 2018 in the “Journal of Bone and Mineral Research” on high-impact physical activities, a significant correlation was found between the number of kilometres covered per week and the level of fat found in the bone marrow.
Long-distance physical exercise therefore places a greater loading constraint on the spine, resulting in a strong stimulation of the bone marrow. So it stands to reason that the more you walk, the greater the benefits.
Outdoor physical activity
It is also important to take into account physical activity and the body clock. All stem cells produced by the bone marrow have a circadian rhythm. They remain sensitive to environmental signals received by the body, such as light. To reap the full benefits of physical activity, it’s best to do it outdoors. Light intensity outdoors can be up to 100 times greater than indoors. This parameter is not to be taken lightly, as light is like a nutrient that acts at every level of the body’s biology.
When we walk, we take the time to appreciate the things around us and we are more exposed to daylight.
References
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2. Turhan, A.G. 2003. “Plasticité Des Cellules Souches Adultes“. Transfusion Clinique Et Biologique.
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4. Morici G, Zangla D, Santoro A, Pelosi E, Petrucci E, Gioia M, Bonanno A, Profita M, Bellia V, Testa U, Bonsignore MR. L’exercice supramaximal mobilise les progéniteurs hématopoïétiques et les réticulocytes chez les athlètes. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. Novembre 2005.
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6. B;, Krall EA;Dawson-Hughes. 2023. “Walking Is Related to Bone Density and Rates of Bone Loss.” The American Journal of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
7. Garcia, L., Pearce, M., Abbas, A., Mok, A., Strain, T., Ali, S., … Brage, S. (2023). Non-occupational physical activity and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality outcomes: a dose–response meta-analysis of large prospective studies
8. Williams PT, Thompson. Marcher par rapport à la course pour l’hypertension, le cholestérol et la réduction du risque de diabète sucré. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. Mai 2013.
