Walking Magazine and Newspaper Articles

TIME Magazine (January 21, 2002)

• Over the long term, a regular walking routine can do a world of preventative good, from lowering your risk of stroke, diabetes and osteoporosis to treating arthritis, high blood pressure and even depression.
• "If everyone in the U.S. were to walk briskly 30 minutes a day, we could cut the incidence of many chronic diseases 30% to 40%." (Brisk walking) adds up to as much as a 50% reduction in the risk of suffering a heart attack.
• "The elements of a healthy workout : 30 minutes of walking – at 3 m.p.h. – 4 m.p.h. – five or six times a week.” This quote appeared in this week’s TIME Magazine article titled “Walk, Don’t Run." According to a Harvard University study, "women who walk for at least an hour a week have HALF the risk of cardiovascular disease as those who are sedentary."

USA TODAY (April 30, 2001)

• "Many people underestimate the value of walking because it seems so pedestrian. They don’t realize how rapidly you get benefits from walking -and how moderately you have to move to get those benefits."
  - Mark Fenton, author of a new book, The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss and Fitness.
• Walking is the most popular physical activity in the USA, with as many as 82.6 million people saying they walked for recreation last year (American Sports Data, Hartsdale, NY).
• More than 16 million people are frequent fitness walkers, walking at least 100 days a year (American Sports Data).
• Women who walk for at least an hour a week have half the risk of cardiovascular disease as those who are sedentary, says another Harvard study.
• People who do moderately intensive exercise consistently are more likely to lose weight than those doing hard-core, high-intensity workouts occasionally, according to yet another study.
• For the last few years, public health officials and others have struggled to persuade people to get moving. The latest statistics from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention show that only 25% of adults in 1998 met the government’s recommendation of getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most – preferably all – days of the week.
• "If people were offered an elixir and told it would cut in half their risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and several forms of cancer, everyone would be clamoring to get hold of it. That magic bullet exists, and it’s called physical activity, and it only takes 30 minutes a day."
  – Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventative medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (author of The 30-minute Fitness Solution).  

Music Helps Exercisers Go Further With Less Effort by Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who listen to their favorite music while exercising may push themselves further and feel as if they are exerting themselves less than people who prefer a tuneless workout, according to new research.

 

 

 

 

A number of different studies have investigated the benefits of listening to music while exercising, which include increasing endurance and boosting mood, Dr. Robert T. Herdegen of Hampden-Sydney College in Farmville, Virginia told Reuters Health. Many researchers suspect the benefits of exercise stem from its ability to relax people, which might enable them to perform better.

 

 

 

However, Herdegen has another idea: perhaps music distracts people from their exertions. And if they don’t think about how hard the workout is, they are less likely to experience the discomfort that might make them slow down or stop working out.

 

 

 

 

Herdegen noted that another possible explanation for the benefits of music on exercise could involve the effect of melody on mood. Most of the study participants listened to upbeat music, he added, which may have given them more of a positive outlook on their exertions. "If you're in a better mood, you’re happier. Perhaps you’re more likely to keep going," Herdegen said.

 

 

 

 

Although the study participants only engaged in short bouts of vigorous exercise, Herdegen said that previous evidence suggests that music can improve a person’s ability to perform a number of different activities, and that its effects will persist even during long periods of exertion.

Dallas Morning News: 6/28/02—"Step It Up" by Leslie Garcia

• According to Maggie Spilner, Walking Editor for Prevention Magazine: Walking increases your fitness level. You gain energy and endurance. You’re able to sleep better. It reduces the risk of heart disease. It raises good and lowers bad cholesterol. Diabetics can bring their insulin under control.
• A study of women in their 50’s and 60’s showed that those who walked regularly were able to return their arteries to the same state of elasticity that they had in their 20’s. It shows you can delay or reduce the signs of aging in the brain.
• There are men who say they used to take $3394 worth of medicine a month and now don’t take any. They were on insulin, blood pressure medicine and simply by walking and dropping weight, they'd gotten healthy.
• A brisk 15 minute walk is equivalent in relaxation power to taking 5 milligrams of Valium. It has biochemical effects, washing away of stress chemicals. It’s very soothing. You can release endorphins when you exercise. It has a calming and mood elevating effect.

Music + Sweat = Sharp. Researcher Shows Listening to Music During Workouts Keeps Brain Alert by Lee Dye

• April 1 – Exercise is good for the body as well as the psyche, according to scads of scientific research. But here’s a new wrinkle. If you listen to music while exercising, your brain will probably work better too.
• On average, the participants performed more than twice as well on a verbal fluency test after listening to music while exercising than they did after exercising without music.