Don't Dismiss Walking

I can't believe it! Walktober is almost over and I still haven't written about how amazing walking is and how few of us take advantage of its benefits. 

If you live in the same world as me, you will likely know that walking is no longer necessary for our basic everyday survival. For the most part, the average citizen can get by just fine without walking more than a few hundred meters most days of the week. Between all the cars, buses, subways, taxis, and home delivery services, it is unlikely that any of us are going to starve because we can’t (or won't) walk. Some folks will call this progress, but for many people who come to me wanting to regain their fitness and health, shunning those non-walking conveniences is the first place we start.

Being physically active throughout the day is one of the most important things people of all ages can do to improve their health. But despite all that we know about the benefits of movement, only half of North American adults and about a quarter of adolescents get the (extremely modest) amount recommended in national guidelines—30 minutes per day.

For those movement-less people, let me posit this: walking is a perfect path to fitness. And it doesn't require any special skills or expensive equipment.

What Walking Does For Us

It is true, walking bestows many beneficial changes to our bodies. Here are just a few:

• Healthy adult males who walk briskly experience lower resting blood pressure and postprandial triglycerides.
• Kids who walk to school are fitter overall than peers who do not.
• Walking improves longevity in women over 70.
• Older healthy adults who walk briskly live longer than those who don’t.
• Regular walking improves working memory in older adults.
• Walking programs improve cognitive ability in Alzheimer’s patients. 

A study at Harvard of 12,000 adults found that people who live in cities have a lower risk of being overweight and obese than people who live in the suburbs. They found that in Atlanta, 45 percent of suburban men were overweight and 23 percent were obese; among urbanites, however, only 37 percent were overweight and 13 percent obese...

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