HHS HealthBeat (August 17, 2009)

Staying alive

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

"Stayin’ Alive" has a good beat – in fact, 103 beats a minute – and you can walk to it.

Researcher Simon Marshall of San Diego State University found about 100 steps a minute was an important threshold for health. His findings were based on oxygen consumption tests of almost 100 people walking on a treadmill. 

So Marshall says stepping out to ``Stayin’ Alive’’ gets you in the right intensity zone. He also admits to being a disco fan.  

[Simon Marshall speaks] "The tempo of it such that – as most disco music from the ‘70s – the beat is fairly consistent throughout the whole song, and most people find it hard to sit still to."

The study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss

Last revised: May 7, 2011