0 Comments
Health experts are torn on this popular wellness routine. But is it worth the hype?
Self-optimisation might be the biggest trend of 2025. Whether it’s journaling, cutting down on screen time, or feeding your gut, everyone is obsessed with their wellbeing. This fixation is at times – ironically – unhealthy. If fad diets were the rage in the ‘90s, then fad wellness routines are their post-millenium counterpart.
But as an unprecedented number of young people seek weight loss medication and expensive supplement brands are debunked, a handful of fitness trends are still grabbing the attention of health experts. One such routine? Japanese walking.
This style of workout, which involves intervals of fast and slow-paced walking, has been around for a while. But like most things these days, it gained widespread popularity on TikTok. Its name derives from a study conducted in Japan, but interval walking is popular the world over.
So why has this relatively simple style of movement built so much traction – particularly amongst health experts? And is it really worth the hype, or just another means of selling unnecessary products to a health-conscious (or health-paranoid) society?
The answer lies in the simplicity itself.
‘We know that exercise matters, we know that intensity matters,’ says Laura Richardson, an exercise psychologist and clinical associate at the University of Michigan.
‘I think [Japanese walking] has caught on because it’s so sustainable – it’s short, it’s doable, you don’t have to be in a gym, and there are lots of benefits to walking.’
It’s true that putting one foot in front of the other does us endless amounts of good – not only for our physical wellbeing but also our mental outlook.
And when you add in short bursts of high-intensity exercise, you compound these benefits with a simple fitness boost. A 2007 study found that interval walking also improved symptoms of age and lifestyle-related conditions, including changes in cognitive function, depression, and sleep quality.
‘It’s getting your heart rate up and then bringing it back down,’ Richardson says. This increases blood flow to your body’s muscles and makes your heart beat faster. ‘That’s where we get health benefits,’ she adds. ‘The adaptations begin happening at higher levels of intensity.’
It might seem like a relatively understated form of exercise, but this is precisely what makes it so effective – more of us are likely to adopt this type of routine, and stick with it.
And as John Buckley, professor of exercise physiology at Keele University points out, even ‘modest amounts of activity can bring our blood glucose down and our blood pressure down.’
