Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. Just 30 minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance.

It can also reduce your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers.

Unlike some other forms of exercise, walking is free and doesn’t require any special equipment or training.

Physical activity does not have to be vigorous or done for long periods in order to improve your health.

Walking is low impact, requires minimal equipment, can be done at any time of day and can be performed at your own pace. You can get out and walk without worrying about the risks associated with some more vigorous forms of exercise.

Walking is also a great form of physical activity for people who are overweight, elderly, or who haven’t exercised in a long time.

Walking for fun and fitness isn’t limited to strolling by yourself around local neighbourhood streets. There are various clubs, venues and strategies you can use to make walking an enjoyable and social part of your lifestyle.

Research

Stepping up your activity level could add some serious gains to your lifespan, especially if you’re among the many Americans who fall short on exercise.

In the U.S., the least active 25% of the population over 40 could add 11 years to their average life expectancy if they were as physically active as the top 25%, according to a new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

And if all Americans over 40 were as physically active as the top 25% of the population, the average U.S. life expectancy would increase by five years, the study found.

“Our findings suggest that [physical activity] provides substantially larger health benefits than previously thought, which is due to the use of more precise means of measuring [it],” researchers from the Griffith University School of Medicine in Queensland, Australia, said in a news release.

The findings are based on a predictive model that estimates the impact of different levels of physical activity on life expectancy.

Researchers looked at activity levels for 36,000 Americans over 40 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and mortality data from the CDC. They converted all forms of exercise into walking minutes.

Physical activity levels were broken down into four groups: The least active people walked about 50 minutes daily, the next group walked about 80 minutes daily, the third group walked about 110 minutes daily, and the most active group walked about 160 minutes daily.

Of the four groups, the least active people would have the most to gain in life expectancy. Each extra hour of walking would add almost six hours of life, the study said.

The research team acknowledged that it’s not easy to persuade people to increase their activity levels. Governments can help by encouraging physical activity.

“Infrastructure measures that encourage active transport, walkable neighbourhoods as well and green spaces might be promising approaches to increase [physical activity] and resultant healthy life expectancy at the population level,” the study concluded.

Other studies have linked exercise and increased lifespans. A study published earlier this year said that following a healthy lifestyle – which includes regular physical activity – can increase life expectancy, even for people with a high genetic risk of a short lifespan.

Credit: webmd.com