Research highlights the potential health benefits of walking
Posted on 11 June 2007
When occasion arises, I use this site as an opportunity to advocate regular activity for its benefits on health and wellbeing. While exercise and activity comes in many forms, I have for some time been a big believer in walking. This form of exercise is available to almost all of us, is free, and is even generally acceptable to those of us who do not consider ourselves as
Published June 11, 2007 . Filed under: Exercise and Activity
If you drive to work, one way of scheduling exercise into your day might be to park a couple of kms from your workplace & walk the rest of the way (this may also make a small dent in town centre congestion & pollution). Unfortunately local authorities’ short-sightedness or greed can make this difficult when, for instance, time restrictions are introduced in suburban streets where parking was previously free & unrestricted.
Perhaps this calls for some sort of national Park & Walk scheme?
June 16, 2007 @ 8:49 am
I have a sedantory job in London and was clearly unfit; but I thought I was too busy to fit exercise into my regime. Then on 2 January a few years ago I got out at London St Pancras and for some mad reason decided to walk to my office at Embankment, guessing the route. It took me 32 minutes, yet I always allowed half an hour in the evenings for the tube ride to St P in time to get my train! So for maybe 5 minutes longer each day I got 60 minutes of good walking exercise.
Now I still can’t say I’m truly fit; but I do walk up every escalator, walk rather then tube whenever I can, and sometimes even get out at Covent Garden and hit the 186 stairs to the top. I also now cycle (fair weather only!) the two miles to the station, and it takes me just 3 minutes longer for 10 minutes more execise.
So, by thinking about what you do and seeing if there’s a substitute way of doing it, I’ve found I can fit in a reasonable amount of exercise without taking up much time. Try scoring your own ‘points’ in a day – 1 for walking up an escalator, 5 for using the stairs, 50 for the Covent garden stairs! etc and it’s surprising just how much modest exercise you can squeeze into a day with minimal impact on your time.
June 18, 2007 @ 8:33 am
Watching television isn’t as sedentary as sitting at the computer. I do Pilates and sit ups whilst watching tv, whereas at my computer I just slump and drink Pimms.
Tigs.
PS. Going to bed earlier and getting up earlier doesn’t actually give you any more time in which to walk – it just shifts round your day a bit. You can walk at any time during that day and at night too – depending on where you live.
June 20, 2007 @ 1:20 am