Walk away from your health risks
It's true, we're walking-obsessed, and for good reasons. But you may think the benefits are limited to improving balance, leg strength and respiration, along with dispelling stress and managing your blood sugar. Not quite.
Research shows that walking has far-reaching powers to counter even genetic predispositions to poor health! When Harvard University researchers looked at a variety of obesity-promoting genes in more than 12,000 people, they found that those folks who walked briskly for an hour a day slashed the effect of their pound-adding genes in half!
Walking also has been shown to reduce the risk for breast cancer. According to an American Cancer Society study, women who walk seven-plus hours a week have a 14% lower risk of breast cancer than women who only walk for three hours or less.
Walking also eases knee and hip pain by reducing friction between cartilage and strengthening muscles around joints. And walking even 5 to 6 miles a week can help prevent arthritis from setting in.
Walking also boosts your immune system. One study of more than 1,000 people found that walking 20-plus minutes a day, five days a week, reduces folks' number of sick days from the common cold and other upper respiratory diseases by 43%. And when the participants did get sick, it was less severe and lasted fewer days.
For more tips on walking, check out the free newsletter on LongevityPlaybook.com, and if walking for exercise doesn't sound like fun, check out Dr. Oz's blog "Ways to Make Exercise More Enjoyable" at iHerb.com/blog.
Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world's leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1's).
(c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2024 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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