Silly walks could help to improve physical health

Thursday December 22nd 2022

Walking like Mr Teabag in the infamous Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch could help adults to achieve their physical activity targets, according to a new study.

In the annual, quirky Christmas issue of *The BMJ*, researchers from Arizona State University, Kansas State University and the University of Virginia measured the inefficient walking styles as those demonstrated by Mr Teabag and Mr Putey, acted by John Cleese and Michael Palin in the 1971 sketch.

The study included 13 healthy adults (six women, seven men) aged 22-71 years with no history of heart or lung disease, and no known gait disorder.

Each participant’s height and weight were measured and they were shown a video of the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch before performing three walking trials, each lasting five minutes, around an indoor 30-metre course.

They each walked in their usual style at a freely chosen pace and recreated, as best they could, the walks of Mr Teabag and Mr Putey.

The researchers measured the distance covered during the five minute walks, oxygen uptake (mL/kg/min), energy expenditure (kcal/kg/min) and exercise intensity (METs), finding that only the Teabag walk resulted in a significantly greater energy expenditure – about 2.5 times that of usual walking.

They estimated that adults could achieve 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity per week by walking in Teabag style for about 11 minutes a day, while adopting the Teabag-style steps for 12-19 minutes a day would increase daily energy expenditure by approximately 100 kcal.

The Christmas edition also reveals that people who believe in conspiracies, reject the COVID-19 vaccine, or prefer alternative medicine are more likely to endorse mythical causes of cancer than non-conspiracists but are less likely to endorse actual causes of cancer.

Researchers in Spain surveyed users of several popular online discussion platforms on their beliefs about cancer from January to March 2022.

Conspiracy beliefs

Questions on health habits and behaviours included a preference for conventional or alternative medicines, attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination, smoking status, alcohol consumption, weight and height, and personal history of cancer.

Further questions assessed conspiracy beliefs and beliefs about both actual and mythical causes of cancer based on the validated Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) and CAM-Mythical Causes Scale (CAM-MYCS).

In total, 1,494 responders were included in the analysis. Of these, 209 were unvaccinated against COVID-19, 112 preferred alternatives rather than conventional medicine, and 62 reported flat earth or reptilian beliefs.

Awareness of the actual and mythical causes of cancer among the unvaccinated, alternative medicine, and conspiracy groups was lower – at an average 55% and 19% for actual and mythical causes, respectively – than among their counterparts, which was 64% and 42% respectively.

Almost half (673; 45%) of all participants agreed with the statement: “It seems like everything causes cancer”.

Another study in the edition shows that elite male football players have a lower risk of alcohol and drug related disorders than men from the general population, but this protective effect was seen only for those who first played in the 1960s and later.

Researchers from Sweden tracked the health of 6,007 male football players who had played in the Swedish top division, Allsvenskan, from 1924 to 2019 and 56,168 men from the general population matched to players based on age and region of residence.

They identified any alcohol and drug related disorders recorded in death certificates, during hospital admissions and outpatient visits, or use of prescription drugs for alcohol addiction, and assessed if any increased risk would vary according to year of first top tier playing season, age, career length, and goal scoring abilities.

Participants were followed for an average of 27 years, during which time 257 (4.3%) football players and 3,528 (6.3%) men from the general population received diagnoses of alcohol-related disorders.

The risk of alcohol-related disorders was about 30% lower among football players than among men from the general population and was seen among players who played their first season in the top tier from the early 1960s onwards. Players from earlier eras had a similar risk as men from the general population.

The risk of alcohol-related disorders was lowest at about 35 years, but increased with age when at 75 years, football players had a higher risk of alcohol related disorders than men from the general population.

Gaesser GA, Poole DC, Angadi SS. Quantifying the benefits of inefficient walking: Monty Python inspired laboratory based experimental study. *BMJ* 22 December 2022; doi: 10.1136/ bmj-2022-072833 [abstract]

Paytubi S, Benavente Y, Montoliu A et al. Everything causes cancer? Beliefs and attitudes towards cancer prevention among anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, and reptilian conspiracists: online cross sectional survey. * BMJ* 22 December 2022; doi: 10.1136/ bmj-2022-072561 [abstract]

Ueda P, Pasternak B, Svanström H et al. Alcohol related disorders among elite male football players in Sweden: nationwide cohort study. *BMJ* 22 December 2022; doi: 10.1136/ bmj-2022-074093 [abstract]

Tags: Alternative Therapy | Drug & Alcohol Abuse | Fitness | Europe | North America

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