It’s Easy, Inexpensive, Effective and Often Ignored

A survey presented at the 2013 Walking Summit in Washington, D.C. stated that 94 percent of those polled acknowledged that walking is good for their health and 79 percent admitted they should walk more, yet one third don’t walk for 10 minutes at a time over the course of a week.

How many minutes do you spend walking per week and what’s the longest you walk at one time?

Dog walkers are probably the biggest winners in this walking challenge. But for those without canine motivation, chances are walks longer than 10-minutes are pretty rare.

The silver lining in this admission is that the majority of us, even those who haven’t seen the inside of a gym in decades, can put one foot in front of the other for 15 minutes at a time which means better health is there for the taking.

Why bother? Walking reduces stress, combats depression, improves cardiovascular health and helps fight off unwanted pounds. The beauty of taking 15 minutes to improve your physical and mental-health, is that once it’s become a habit it’s easy to extend that walk to 20 minutes then 30 minutes. Before you know it, you’re pulling on your walking shoes and striding to places you used to take the car.

Feeling better and looking better is truly achieved one step at a time.

Source: Montreal Gazette — November 6, 2013

By Jill Barker

http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/11/06/its-easy-inexpensive-effective-and-often-ignored/