What makes walking so great for your health, and what else should you do?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Janet Rapp walked quickly He walks along a paved path at the city zoo, waves to his friends and stops briefly to greet an ostrich whose name he knows.

This is how the 71-year-old retiree starts every morning with his walking club.

“I’m obsessed,” he said. Not only does it relieve joint pain, “it just gives me energy… It also calms me down.”

Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health. strengthen sports and prevent disease. while he was not the only type of exercise people need to do this; This is a great first step towards a healthy life.

Dr. D., a sports medicine physician at Mass General Brigham. “You don’t need equipment and you don’t need a gym membership,” said Sarah Eby. “And the benefits are huge.”

Walking may help meet the U.S. surgeon general’s recommendation that adults get at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. This helps reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many types of cancer.

Julie Schmied, a Norton Healthcare nurse who runs the free Get Healthy Walking Club, added that walking also improves blood sugar levels, promotes bone health and can help you lose weight and sleep better.

Another advantage? It’s a low-impact exercise that puts less stress on the joints because it strengthens your heart and lungs.

James Blankenship, 68, said joining the walking club at the Louisville Zoo last year helped him recover from a heart attack and triple bypass in 2022.

“My cardiologist says I’m doing great,” he said.

Despite all its benefits, walking “is not sufficient for overall health and well-being” because it does not provide resistance training that improves muscle strength and endurance, said Anita Gust, who teaches exercise science at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

This is especially important for women’s bone health as they age.

Experts recommend adding these types of activities at least twice a week (using weights, gym equipment, or your own body as resistance) and doing exercises that increase flexibility, such as yoga or stretching.

Almost everyone has heard of this walking goal, which dates back to a marketing campaign in Japan in the 1960s. However, experts emphasize that this is only a guide.

The average American walks about 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, and gradually working up to 10,000 steps is OK, Shmied said.

Setting a time goal can also be helpful. Shmied suggests splitting the recommended 150 minutes a week into 30 minutes a day for five days, or 10 minutes three times a day. During inclement weather, people can walk in malls or on treadmills.

As they become experienced walkers, they can speed up the pace or challenge themselves on the hills while keeping the activity level moderate.

“If you can talk but can’t sing, that’s what we call moderate-intensity exercise,” Eby said.

Walking with friends (including dogs) is one way.

Walking clubs opened across the country. In 2022, New York-based personal trainer Brianna Joye Kohn, 31, started City Girls Who Walk with a TikTok post inviting others to walk with her.

“250 of our girls came,” he said.

Since then, the group walks for about 40 minutes every Sunday and meets for brunch or coffee afterwards.

The Louisville Zoo founded its walking club in 1987, partnered with Norton in 2004 to expand it, and now has more than 15,000 registered members. Every day from March 1 to October 31, people wander around the 2.4-kilometer loop before the zoo officially opens.

Tony Weiter meets with his two brothers every Friday. They caught up on each other’s lives recently as they darted past zebras and a sunbathing seal in a fenced area.

“I enjoy the peace of it. It’s cold, but the sun is shining. “You can see the animals,” said Weiter, 63. “It’s a great way to start the morning.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.