Ozempic Helps People Walk Further

There’s often a catch-22 when it comes to exercise: it’s important for good health, and/but people with ill health usually cannot exercise much.

A recent (published today, at time of writing, the 29th of March 2025, never let it be said we don’t bring you the very most up-to-date health science!) study by Dr. Neda Rasouli et al. has shown there is a possible way through that catch-22, depending on the nature of the illness.

This study followed 792 people across 112 outpatient clinical trial sites in 20 countries in North America, Asia, and Europe, with type 2 diabetes and peripheral artery disease.

What they found

Patients taking semaglutide (specifically, 1mg Ozempic) enjoyed a 21% median increase in walking distance, as well as some bonus benefits, namely:

• Weight reduction: the semaglutide group saw a greater reduction in body weight (–4.1 kg; P < 0 .0001)
• HbA1c levels: semaglutide lowered HbA1c by 1 percentage point (P < 0.0001)
• Blood pressure: systolic blood pressure decreased by 3.2 mmHg (P = 0.0042)

You may be wondering what that “P =” means: it’s the probability of this occurring by random chance, on a scale from zero (impossible outcome) to 1 (unavoidable outcome).

For example:

“We hypothesized that singing the happy birthday song before tossing a coin would result in it landing on heads. We sang the happy birthday song and tossed the coin; it landed on heads (P = 0.5)”

In science, generally speaking anything with a probability of under 0.05 (expressed as: “P < 0.05”) is considered a statistically significant result.

All this to say, the cited figures of, for example, P < 0.0001, are very significant indeed.

On which note, that 21% median increase in walking distance? P < 0.0004.

As for side effects? Serious adverse events related to the drug occurred in 1% of the semaglutide group vs 2% in the placebo group. So, that seems quite safe indeed.

You can find the paper itself here:

Semaglutide and walking capacity in people with symptomatic peripheral artery disease and type 2 diabetes (STRIDE): a phase 3b, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

Want to learn more?

Check out:

• The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, & Move More
• Walking… Better.
• 5 Ways To Naturally Boost The “Ozempic Effect”

Take care!