Walking and health: the extraordinary facts!
Walking and health: the extraordinary facts!
- Starting moderate exercise from nothing halves your risk of a heart attack and stroke
- A walking group, including 60 elderly men, will save one life each year from a heart attack or stroke
- It costs £49 per month to treat one person for high blood pressure and cholesterol and therefore prevent a heart attack or stroke. It costs as little as £5 to support a person walking regularly
- Walking in open spaces, especially in the countryside, has a measurable effect on people’s sense of wellbeing. It even has its own word: "Biophillia!"
- It is as dangerous for your heart to take no exercise as it is to smoke 20 cigarettes a day
- Obesity is on the rise in this country because of the nation’s decreasing rates of exercise. It is not related to diet: our calorie intake has not changed in the last 50 years. Our reducing rates of physical activity exactly mirror the introduction of television and increased car use
- Walking can improve blood pressure and help people lose weight. This in turn reduces the danger of diabetes, heart problems and lowers cholesterol levels
- Walking for one mile burns exactly as many calories as jogging for one mile, it just takes longer
- Walking is as effective in helping those with mild depression as anti-depressant medication
- Sport England now officially counts walking as a sport
Visit the Walking the Way to Health website for more useful information.
