Fit walking into your life

It’s a fabulous cost-free way of boosting your mood and getting fit. No time to do it? We’ve got the answer: here’s the walking plan for you!

Evidence is growing that moving more and being active throughout the day are the very best ways to protect our health. And walking wins rave reviews as an easy exercise to do just that, because it should fit into our lives without too much effort, right? But show us a woman who’s never looked at the rain, or her endless to-do list, and thought, ‘I’ll take the car’. That’s why Nina Barough, founder of the breast cancer charity Walk The Walk, has come up with a ‘move more’ walking plan that even the busiest women can commit to doing every day.

‘Science has shown it is far more valuable to our overall health to be regularly active, rather than being mostly sedentary and then spending an hour giving everything you have at the gym,’ says Nina. ‘Little and often is the secret, which is why the plan is about integrating the benefits of walking into your daily busy-ness – counting all the steps you take from the moment you wake up until you go to bed.

‘If you are someone who is busy but spends long periods sitting down, then make sure you always get up and walk around once an hour, even if it is only for five or 10 minutes. Make yourself a drink, put your head out of the door and smell the fresh air, take your washing out of the machine, go and speak to a colleague rather than emailing them – you get the picture. You could even try walking all or part of the way to work. You will be surprised at the results,’ says Nina.

‘Little and often is the secret’