May sees the return of National Walking Month and the Living Streets organisation wants everyone to #WalkThisMay. If you visit the Living Streets website there is a calculator where you enter how many short journeys a week you plan to do throughout the month. The special ‘Walk This May’ calculator will then show you how many miles you will walk, how many calories you will burn and how much CO2 you will save compared to if you were driving those trips.
To find lots of ideas on how people of all ages can get walking and to learn more visit Living Streets National Walking Month page.
The benefits of brisk walking
Brisk walking – which is basically walking at least 3mph is a moderate intensity physical activity. The great thing about brisk walking is that pretty much anyone anyone can do, it requires no particular skill or equipment and is very accessible to the general population compared to other types of physical activity.
Brisk walking has many health benefits including lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers.
Other benefits of brisk walking include:
- Helping to maintain a healthy blood pressure
- Reducing the incidence of stroke
- Improved cognitive function in older people with and without existing impairment
- Reduced anxiety
- Improved mental wellbeing
- Increased physical fitness
- Greater ease of performance of everyday physical activities
- Improved mood
- Improved quality of life
- Increased body leanness and healthier weight
Source: Public Health England
Active 10
The Active 10 app monitors how much walking you do throughout the day and shows you how many brisk minutes you do each day.
You can see where you walk more slowly and how if you pick up your pace a little you turn minutes of slower walking into minutes of brisk walking, which is more beneficial to health.
Find out more about the Active 10 app
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