Walking for Good Health

 “I have two doctors - my left leg and my right leg" wrote British author George Trevelyan in 1913 about the health benefits of walking. A century later, modern medical experts echo the same advice: Get up and walk.

Walking may be the single best — and easiest — exercise you can do to improve your health in 2013. Not only will going for a daily walk help you feel better now, it will help you maintain your independence and ability to do daily tasks as you age, according to a health professor at Missouri State University who has helped older, sedentary men and women start a walking routine.

Research also has shown that walking regularly can help protect the aging brain against memory loss, dementia, help cut the risk of heart disease, reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults by a whopping 60 percent.  And we're not talking marathon walking. The peak benefits come from 30 minutes of exercise several times a week, say experts.

Most of us do need to move more: Only 30 percent of people ages 45 to 64 say they engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, and that drops to 25 percent for those 65 to 74, according to the National Institute on Aging, which has launched a "get off your duff" campaign called Go4Life.

Go4Life is a federal campaign for people 50 and older and encourages sedentary older adults to reap health benefits by making physical activity part of their daily lives. The campaign developed from concerns that, despite proven health benefits, exercise and physical activity rates among older people are low.
"If we want to become a healthy and fit nation, we need to increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life," says the U.S. Surgeon General.  "Go4Life provides older adults with the tools and resources to get moving and keep moving. We are moving our health care system from a focus on sickness and disease to a focus on wellness and prevention."