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Main article: Physical exercise Regular, brisk exercise of any kind can improve confidence, stamina, energy, weight control and life expectancy and reduce stress. While it can also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, bowel cancer and osteoporosis. Scientific studies have also shown that walking, besides its physical benefits, is also beneficial for the mind, improving memory skills, learning ability, concentration and abstract reasoning, as well as reducing stress and lifting spirits. Sustained walking sessions for a minimum period of thirty to sixty minutes a day, five days a week, with the correct walking posture,[7][8] reduce health risks and have various overall health benefits,[9] such as reducing the chances of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression.[10] Life expectancy is also increased even for individuals suffering from obesity or high blood pressure. Walking also improves bone health, especially strengthening the hip bone, and lowering the more harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and raising the more useful good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Studies have found that walking may in addition help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's.[19] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's fact sheet on the "Relationship of Walking to Mortality Among U.S. Adults with Diabetes" states that those with diabetes who walked for 2 or more hours a week lowered their mortality rate from all causes by 39 per cent. "Walking lengthened the life of people with diabetes regardless of age, sex, race, body mass index, length of time since diagnosis, and presence of complications or functional limitations."[20] Governments now recognize the benefits of walking for mental and physical health and are actively encouraging it. This growing emphasis on walking has arisen because people walk less now than previously. In the UK; a Department of Transport report[21] found that between 1995/97 and 2005 the average number of walk trips per person fell by 16%, from 292 to 245 per year. Many professionals in local authorities and the NHS are employed to halt this decline by ensuring that the built environment allows people to walk and that there are walking opportunities available to them. Professionals working to encourage walking come mainly from six sectors: health, transport, environment, schools, sport and recreation, and urban design. One programme to encourage walking is "The Walking the Way to Health Initiative", organizsed by the British walkers association The Ramblers, which is the largest volunteer led walking scheme in the United Kingdom. Volunteers are trained to lead free Health Walks from community venues such as libraries and doctors' surgeries. The scheme has trained over 35,000 volunteers and have over 500 schemes operating across the UK, with thousands of people walking every week.[22] A new organization called "Walk England" launched a web site in June 2008 to provide these professionals with evidence, advice and examples of success stories of how to encourage communities to walk more. The site has a social networking aspect to allow professionals and the public to ask questions, post news and events and communicate with others in their area about walking, as well as a "walk now" option to find out what walks are available in each region. Similar organizations exist in other countries and recently a "Walking Summit" was held in the USA. This "assembl[ed] thought-leaders and influencers from business, urban planning and real estate, [along with] physicians and public health officials," and others, to discuss how to make American cities and communities places where "people can and want to walk".[23] |
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