Walking Fit

Walking is easy, cheap, convenient, and not likely to result in injury. What’s even better, walking could be the answer to your weight-loss prayers. If you’re overweight, losing just 10 percent of your body weight can have tremendous health benefits by cutting your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Walking helps prevent colds and flu-even heart disease and cancer.
The secret to walking longer, faster, and more energetically is a strong, limber body. Strength and flexibility also help ward off shin pain and stiffness in your hips and lower back – and building muscle revs up your metabolism so you burn more fat. Pick up your pace, tackle steeper inclines, and burn more fat – in a snap.

Walking boosts immunity:
Research shows exercise can help keep you well.
Our immune system is a bit like a car: As it ages, it starts to wear down. If we drive it hard - such as when we eat on the go, stay up too late, and don’t exercise-it’ll wear down even faster, making us vulnerable to sickness. Fortunately, exercise can bolster your resistance. Research has shown that women who walked fast enough to boost their heart rate for 30 to 45 minutes five days a week for 12 weeks had an increased number of immune cells in their bodies for several hours afterward.
Just don’t overdo it: In high-intensity exercise of more than an hour, hormones are secreted that can suppress the immune system for up to 24 hours.

Ways to Walk an Hour a Day
Walking in short bursts works!
Weight loss experts say the same thing: In order to lose weight, you must walk for an hour a day, 5 or 6 days a week. To most of us, that seems like a huge chunk of time. But there's a simple solution that kept from throwing in the towel: You can divvy up that hour over the course of a day.
That's right, little chunks of activity are just as good as one big chunk, and they may be even better. So instead of trying to squeeze an hour of walking into your pre-breakfast get-ready-for-work routine, do 20 minutes in the morning. At lunch, step out for a brisk walk into town and run an errand or pick up a bite to eat at your desk. That's another 20, at least. You may take a walk break mid-afternoon, when you feel yourself slumping in front of your computer. Then, after dinner, you either walk around the track by your home or pop a walking video in the VCR. You could feel satisfied with 40 minutes, but if weight loss is the goal, it's just not good enough. (And new guidelines suggest that a minimum of 1 hour a day may be the best bet for staying healthy too.)
The latest research suggests that short bursts of activity may cause your body to burn calories more steadily throughout the day. If you're stumped on how to fit an hour into your day, try this chunking approach.

Cut your cancer risk…….with a little more walking and a little less steak.
Lifestyle changes such as walking more and eating less red meat may cut your risk of colon cancer in half. Regular exercise can have the biggest impact. “Three hours of walking per week would do the job”. Research says that 1 hour of brisk walking a day was associated with a 26 percent reduction in colon cancer risk. Possible reason: Exercise speeds things through the colon.

Walk off jet lag – Keep up the exercise when you travel
It’s too easy to skip workouts when you travel. But by taking a walk when you land at your destination – especially if you’ve crossed more than one time zone – you may stave off some of the effects of jet lag, according to preliminary research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. 
When researchers simulated rapid and repetitive travel across four time zones, they discovered that people who exercised had better reaction times than those who did not. This is particularly important if you’ll be driving after your flight.
Until researchers know more specifics, the best advice is to exercise moderately when you’re traveling, says research project leader David Rimmer. If you feel tired, don’t overdo it.  

Stay slim without dieting – It’s easy. Here’s how.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we come up with a simple formula to help us prevent weight gain as we age? Done! Just walk about 2 ½ miles every day, and you won’t put on a pound over the next 10 years, say researchers at NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston. 
They’ve been tracking a group of about 500 people to find out how much exercise (regardless of calorie intake) it takes to stop the scale from rising along with the number of candles on the birthday cake.
For women weighing 150 and men weighing 180 pounds, the magic number appears to be 16 miles a week. If you weigh more, you can get away with fewer miles because you burn more calories. Weigh less? You’ll have to boost the mileage, because you’ll burn fewer calories.

This news could save your life!
A little walking makes a big difference in life expectancy, major studies show.
Walking 2 miles a day cut mortality rates in half for people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. That’s what researchers in the Honolulu Heart Program found in a 12-year study that proves that it’s never too late to start.
In another study, researchers from the University of Virginia calculated that every mile older people walk daily lowers their death rate by 19 percent! Infrequent walkers were about 2 ½ times more likely to die of cancer than were those who walked at least 2 miles a day.
And, according to another study, heredity is no match for exercise. Researchers tracked 16,000 twins and found that the study’s walkers were 44 percent less likely to die prematurely than their sedentary twins. 
So much for “bad genes.” If you have a family history of heart disease or cancer, there’s no reason to feel doomed. Simply lace up your walking shoes!

Take an energy break
Do you reach for sweets in the afternoon, thinking they’ll energize you until dinner? Drop ’em. Studies have shown that eating sweets may pick you up for a short while but will leave you pooped and edgy. A better solution? Take a walk.
Exercise provides energy sooner that lasts longer and subsides with none of the sugar snack’s aftereffects. Plus, a 10-minute walk burns about 55 calories, while a candy bar delivers anywhere from 200 to 300 calories or more. Choose the walk instead of the candy and you’re talking potential for substantial weight-loss. In fact, doing that 5 times a week could put the brakes on about 18 pounds in 6 months.

Walking partnerships keep hearts healthy
Never underestimate the power of support. New study results show that people who’ve been encouraged to walk have less risk of heart disease. The study began 17 years ago with a group of more than 200 healthy women, ages 50-65. Half enrolled in a regular walking program, while the others weren’t asked to exercise. After eight weeks of walking 3-5 times a week with an exercise physiologist, the first group continued to keep walking logs and received encouragement through social activities and phone calls from researchers for another 2 ½ years.
In 1995, 10 years after the study ended, researchers found that the original walking group members were still walking more than the others and appeared to be more active. Only 2 percent of the walking group said that they had heart disease, compared to 12 percent in the non-walking group.

Cure for Midlife Weight Gain
Put down the glass, and take up walking
Counting on staying as slim after menopause as you were before? Reach for your walking shoes instead of a second glass of wine or beer. A study of 418 Massachusetts women ages 50 to 60 showed that the ones who gained weight over a 10-year period were the ones who started to drink more alcohol. Women who stopped their exercise program were even more likely to put on pounds (Menopause, Mar/Apr 2000).

Walking Extends Diabetics' Lives
A recent study shows that even short walks help
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say walking--even just a little--can lower the risk of death for those with adult-onset diabetes. They studied 2,896 adults, average age around 59, who'd had diabetes for about 11 years. Those in the study group who walked as little as two hours per week had a 39% lower death rate from all causes, and a 34% lower risk of death from heart disease. Those who walked three to four hours a week had the lowest overall death rates.

More topics:
30-Day Walking Planner
Common Walking Problems

Source: Net