(excerpt..)
Many things leap to mind when someone mentions walking: fitness – fun – fresh air – relaxation – friends and maybe your most comfortable pair of shoes.
But a word that rarely arises is ‘power’.
Streams of medical studies now document the central role physical activity plays in fending off disease and disability.
Chances of depression – dementia – colon cancer – heart disease – anxiety – diabetes and other conditions drop by at least 40 percent among people engaging in moderate exercise such as walking.
A landmark study issued last year found that sedentary habits are a bigger health threat than high blood pressure or cholesterol— about the only thing more dangerous than inactivity is smoking reported the New York Times.
This followed on the heels of a Cambridge University study showing that a lack of exercise increased your risk of death twice as much as obesity.
(cont..)