Why Walk?

Walking is freedom

Walking is a human right

Peopel have a legal right to walk

Walking promotes social interaction

Living Streets

Walking for play

Childhood Play

Political discourse

Connection with the community

Walking for better health

Walking for less stress

Walking and impotence

Heart disease: Walking briskly can help cut risk

Results from the Nurses Health Study shows that brisk walking can reduce the risk of heart disease by 40%. Women who walked 3 hours a week or did vigorous exercise for half that time were able to lower the risk of having a heart attack.

Manson, J.E., et al. A prospective study of walking as compared with vigorous exercise in the prevention of coronary heart disease in women. New England Journal of Medicine 1999 Aug 26;341(9):650-658.

Kids and walking to school

Childhood Obesity => 15%

Decline of the number of kids that walk to school

Walking and Weight

People who live in neighborhoods where stores, schools and homes are within walking or cycling distance from each other make almost twice as many weekly trips on foot.

The study, published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, finds all that car-free traveling can add up to better health.

One or two extra walking trips a week can burn off enough calories to drop nearly 2 pounds in a year, about how much weight American adults gain annually, the study says.

Almost 83 percent of all trips are quick, close to home and not work-related, making them good candidates for walking or cycling, according to the researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Cancer and weight

Walking Can Be a Bone Booster

Experts have recommended high-impact aerobic exercise as a means for increasing bone mass, but a review of 24 studies on aerobic exercise and bone mineral density in women suggests that walking just 30 minutes per day a few days a week is enough to moderately increase overall bone density.

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Boston analyzed studies that followed predominantly sedentary women assigned to aerobic exercise programs lasting 16 weeks or more. Walking was the preferred form of exercise by most participants. Compared to non-exercisers, the regular exercisers increased their bone mass by about 2 percent.

Exercise helps strengthen bones because it forces them to bear weight, which is why high-impact exercise elicits even greater gains in bone density. The fact that walking and other low-impact activities are also beneficial, however, is particularly encouraging given that many women find high-impact exercise painful or difficult to master. Experts recommend women follow a program that combines both aerobic activity and weight training, which also increases bone mass, to lower their risk of developing osteoporosis.

Source: Annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, October 24, 2001.

Walking to reduce congestion

20% of traffic in mornings is parents driving kids to school….

Walking to reduce air pollution

47% of auto trips are within 1/2 mile of home….

Walking for better neighborhoods

Walking allows you to meet and talk with your neighbors….

Cost of car ownership

The historical development of Sedentary Prestige

Those who sit are the King

Myths