Walking 30 minutes a Day Can Help Reduce The Risk of Chronic Disease and Illness

You have heard it before: Moderate physical exercise helps prevent and reduce the severity of chronic disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and also improves mood and mobility. Walking — a form of exercise that is accessible to almost everyone and doesn’t require special equipment or attire (other than comfortable shoes) — counts as moderate physical exercise.

A BRISK 30-minute daily walk is a more effective way of losing weight than running or going to the gym, scientists have found.

But how much and when?

The government suggests 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise per week. But many experts suggest at least 30 minutes a day instead.

One popular way to measure how much you are walking is to use a physical activity tracker or pedometer. The magic number seems to be 10,000 steps, which can be a great starting point.

The Fitbit or other trackers enable you to make sure you get your steps in.  It also shows you that everything counts, it adds up. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, park further away or get off at an early Metro stop.

In other words, you don’t have to get your 30 minutes (or the 10,000 steps, which is more than 30 minutes and equals roughly five miles) in one chunk, but over the course of the day.

“The goal is to make it part of your lifestyle”

Try taking a nice walk with your dog each morning or afternoon; not only will burn off those calories you just ate, but I’m sure Fido will enjoy the walk too!!

Walking is much less strenuous than running; there are ways to increase the intensity once you feel ready.

Exercise not only adds years on to our lives, it can also help us to maintain our independence for longer and help keep the blues at bay.