7 Great Reasons to Walk More

GETTY IMAGES You want to do it. You’ve been meaning to do it. So why are you blowing off those walks that you know can be so important to your health? Not anymore. We’ve got a stick-with-it strategy that can’t miss: Give yourself a really good reason to get out there and you’re a lot more likely to make the time. Here are seven. 1. You want to be around to see your grandkids get their (college) diploma. Want to keep adding candles to that birthday cake? Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that as little as 15 minutes of physical activity a day (yep, you read that right) can boost your life span by three years. What’s more, researchers at Brigham Young University who examined DNA samples of nearly 6,000 adults found that exercisers had a “biological age” that was about nine years younger than their couch-potato counterparts! And the good new keeps coming. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, of almost 140,000 people with an average age of 69, found all levels of walking — even levels below the recommended guidelines of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week — were associated with a lower mortality risk, compared with no activity at all. If you’re feeling like it’s too late for you to reap such benefits, know this: A study recently published in the International Journal of Stroke showed those who became fit later in life (ages 40 to 59) cut their risk of a potentially deadly stroke in half. 2. You want to keep kicking butt at Scrabble. It’s not a stretch to say that just a little walking (or other aerobic activities) grows your brain. Researchers have found that regular aerobic exercise appeared to increase the size […]

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