You At Your Best

By KARen RiCe yOu At yOuR Best The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll in many ways. Many have abandoned their exercise routines, impacting physical and mental health. But there is a good way to ease back into physical activity: walking. Foot traffic increased as people were forced to find new ways to exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walking is a great way to stay in shape and even provides some lesser-known benefits for people who walk each day. Individuals looking for a way to incorporate exercise into their lives or get back to exercising need look no further than their own feet. Walking offers numerous health benefits to people of all ages. Walking can be a "gateway" exercise. Walking can facilitate a transition between inactivity and increased intensity for those who may have been away from exercise for some time or maybe have never gotten into a regular exercise routine. Regular walks can improve cardiovascular endurance, which can help people progress to more rigorous physical activity. Though walking might not provide the same level of intensity that fitness enthusiasts are accustomed to, walking can be an effective cardio exercise if one goes at a brisk pace of at least three miles per hour. Walking at this pace can effectively push the heart and lungs to work hard without adversely affecting the joints in the way that other aerobic exercises might. According to Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, walking is "the closest thing people have to a wonder drug." Any physical activity is a boon to personal health, and walking provides a host of benefits. Walking protects against heart disease and stroke. Walking strengthens the heart. The Arthritis Foundation notes that walking lowers blood pressure. In fact, post-menopausal women who walk just one to two miles per day can lower their blood pressure by nearly 11 points in 24 weeks, while women who walk for 30 minutes a day can reduce their risk of stroke by 20 percent. The American Heart Association recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week. Walking can fit that bill. Walking five days a week can reduce risk for coronary heart disease by roughly 19 percent, according to a report in the European Journal of Epidemiology. Walking counteracts effects of weight- promoting genes. Researchers at Harvard Medical School looked at 32 obesity- promoting genes in more than 12,000 people who walked briskly for about an hour a day. Walking reduced the effects of weight-promoting genes by 50 percent. Walking strengthens the bones. Walking can slow down the loss of bone mass due to osteoporosis. www.Arthritis.org notes that a study of postmenopausal women found that 30 minutes of walking each day reduced their risk of hip fractures by 40 percent. Walking reduces joint pain. Walking improves blood flow and helps protect the joints. This can keep people from developing arthritis and other stiffness. Walking can extend your life. The Arthritis Foundation notes that one study linked walking to longer life expectancy, finding that people who exercise regularly in their fifties and sixties were 35 percent less likely to die over the next eight years than people who never walked. Walking can improve your mood. One study from researchers at California State University, Long Beach, found that the more steps people taking during the day, the better their moods were. Walking can tame cravings. People who have a sweet tooth can take notice that walking may steer people away from overindulgence. A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and reduce the chocolate consumed in stressful situations. Walking also helped to reduce cravings for other sugary snacks. Walking can lower risk for cognitive decline. Walking also has been linked to a lower risk for age-related cognitive decline. A study from the University of Virginia Health System found that men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease compared to men who walked less. In addition, a study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that age-related memory decline was lower among women ages 65 and older who walked 2.5 miles per day than it was among women who walked less than half a mile per week. your way back to fitness Walk 6 | yOu At yOuR Best | yOuAtyOuRBest.nWAOnline.COm July - Fit X | sundAy, June 27, 2021

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