Benefits for Walkers

Keeps you fit and healthy, and helps reduce stress

• Reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• Lowers blood pressure
• Reduces high cholesterol
• Reduces body fat
• Enhances mental well being
• Increases bone density, thereby helping to prevent osteoporosis
• Reduces the risk of cancer of the colon
• Reduces the risk of non insulin dependant diabetes
• Helps osteoarthritis
• Helps to control body weight
• You can cover approximately 2 miles in half an hour walking.
• Walking for half an hour can burn 200 calories.
• Lack of exercise causes more illness than smoking in the EU countries (World Health Organisation 2002)

Even relatively short brisk walks of 10-minute can increase fitness.

One study at Loughborough University found that women walking continuously for 30 minutes 5 days a week had almost identical increases in fitness as women who split their 30 minutes into three 10-minute walks (Murphy & Hardman 1998). Perhaps even more encouraging was that the short walkers lost more weight and reported greater decreases in waist circumference than the long walkers.
(Sources: Davison & Grant 1993, US Dept of Health 1996, British Heart Foundation 2000)

Lower travel costs

It is free and requires no special equipment

Solution to car pollution

Research indicates that cyclists and pedestrians absorb lower levels of pollutants from traffic fumes than any other road users