Walk to better health

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Walking is the easiest form of exercise and accessible to anyone at any age, sex, or income bracket. All you need is an open road, your walking shoes and a bottle of water.

Walking is essential to your mental well-being. When you walk, you exercise, your body releases endorphins which creates a feeling of happiness and pushes out any negativity or depressive feelings. Positive attitude helps your immune system stay strong as well.

Walking IS exercise and gets you in a better physical shape. It strengthens your heart and cardiovascular system overall. Your breathing improves, and so do your lungs. A study at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania showed that people working out 30 minutes a day, three times a week, were able to slow the decline in heart health.

Walking can be effective in strengthening your bones and muscles. It slows down the rate of bone loss from your legs and improves overall muscle tone. This is especially true for post-menopausal women. Maintaining an active lifestyle which is associated with walking is a great way to stay fit and avoid dangerous health problems. WebMD lists a Diabetes Prevention program which proved that walking 150 minutes a week and losing just 7% of your body weight can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 58%.

Finally, it is good for the environment - if you have a chance to walk instead of driving somewhere, take the opportunity and enjoy the wind and feeling your lungs expand. If you drive less, you will cut on the exhaust and help reduce the pollution.

All it takes is 2000 steps a day or 30 minutes. You can always get a step counter and it will motivate you to walk when you can, even when you are at work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator; park your car a little further. Every step counts!

10 ways to burn 500 calories in 1 hour

Try one of these every day and you will lose a pound by end of the week!

1. Power walking
2. Cleaning the house
3. Dancing (and we are not talking slow dancing!)
4. Gardening
5. Weight training
6. Shoveling snow
7. Singles (vs. doubles) tennis
8. Pushing a stroller
9. Washing windows
10. Cooking (as in Thanksgiving dinner cooking)

Note: These are averages and time/effort may differ by weight

Written by Jane Light.