As anyone who makes a habit of regularly walking knows, it makes you feel good. Swinging your arms and stepping briskly on a nature path, sandy beach, or treadmill makes you feel energized and works the body. What’s more, recent medical research gives you lots of reasons to step out. From staving off stroke to keeping your GI tract in working order, here’s the latest on why a regular brisk walk should be part of your day.
1. Live longer
The faster you walk, the longer you likely will live. That’s the conclusion of a report revealing a strong correlation between walking pace and expected survival rates for people older than 65. The average gait speed of the 34,485 participants from nine studies included in the analysis was three feet per second, but University of Pittsburgh researchers found the faster participants lived longer.
"Walking requires energy, movement control, and support, and places demands on multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems," the researchers recently wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Slowing gait may reflect both damaged systems and a high energy cost of walking."
