This is your body on

SPEND AROUND AN hour a day walking and not only will you hit 1000 miles in 12 months, you’ll be performing the most incredible service and tune-up on your body and mind...

AGING IS OPTIONAL Walking prevents muscle wastage, triggers cells’ anti-aging processes and helps repair DNA. It also wards against brain shrinkage and increases memory, creativity, reasoning and sociability. BREATHE EASY An hour’s walk a day can reverse thirty years’ gradual aerobic capacity decline, according to a US study which saw 50-year-old subjects regain the lungs of their 20-year-old selves. LEAN MACHINE Insulin allows your body to absorb the energy in food – but it also encourages fat storage. Walking causes insulin levels to drop, but increases your muscles’ sensitivity to it. That means you burn energy more efficiently and fat more readily – cutting your risk of obesity in half and developing Type 2 diabetes by 60% on the way. BUILT TO WALK The fact we put our heels down first when we step is an evolutionary advantage that conserves 53% more energy per stride than running, the University of Utah found: “We consume more energy to run than the typical mammal our size. But we are exceptionally economical walkers.” HIGH ON LIFE Walking boosts circulation, triggers endorphins, decreases stress hormones and increases oxygen supply to every cell in your body. A meta-study of research into the field concluded walking has an effect on the symptoms of depression – at least as effective as medication. BULLETPROOF Walking is more than twice as effective as running at fighting off heart disease, and an hour a day cuts your risk of heart attack in your 50s and 60s in half; a 30-minute walk a day cuts the risk of stroke by a third. CANCER FIGHTER 10,000 cases a year of breast- and bowel cancer are preventable by an hour on foot a day, according to research. Macmillan says for those suffering the most common types of cancer it can cut the risk of death 40%-50%. BONES OF IRON All exercise is good for the spine, but unlike aerobics or gym work, studies have found walking boosts bone density in spine and pelvis – reducing the chances of hip fracture by 40%. FRICTION FREE Regular walking increases levels of ‘synovial fluid’ in your joints – a lubricant supercharged with antiinflammatory compounds.