In Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being, Park Street Press (2007), Thom Hartman writes: “walking may well be the best single exercise there is for human beings. We’re designed to walk. Through most of our history, we walked several miles a day in search of food, water, and firewood—as indigenous people do to this very day.
“Unlike running, walking rarely causes injuries. It is infinitely variable—you can walk fast or slow; uphill, downhill, or straightaway; you can carry small weights in your hands or strapped to your ankles to increase the cardiovascular effect; or you can simply walk comfortably and freely.
“Not only are our bodies designed to be able to walk, they require walking to work right.
“Walking exercises the heart and lungs and stimulates the pumping of the lymphatic system. There are more than six hundred lymph nodes in the body; they are an essential element of our immune system. But unlike the circulatory system, which has a heart to push blood through our veins and arteries, the lymph system relies on gravity. Every time you take a step, your entire lymph system is stimulated and the flow of lymphatic fluids increases.
“Hundreds of studies have found that people who walk for at least fifteen to thirty minutes a day are healthier than people who don’t. They contract fewer diseases, are less likely to get cancer, have lower risks of heart attack and stroke, and have better bone density.”
Health Note from Well Being Journal, Vol. 16, No. 6.