Today (Wednesday) is National Walking Day and the benefits of walking cannot be under estimated.

According to the NHS: “Walking is simple, free, and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier. You don’t have to walk for hours. A brisk 10-minute daily walk has lots of health benefits and counts towards your recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise.”

But, as the charity Living Streets points out, 26% of UK adults do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week (1).

The thing is walking is good for us in all sorts of ways. It gets us out of the house, we give our lungs a bit of a work out, we can catch up with our friends, enjoy the scenery and notice changes within our community.

Living Streets highlights the link between walking and being more alert at work too. It says: “Regular exercise causes an overall work performance boost of about 15%.”

More than that, walking can help to prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and depression.

Luckily, our Living Well Sefton partners have walking groups that meet every week in Sefton so you can keep on walking and there are also regular organised walks through Active Travel.

To find out about our partner walking groups call 0300 323 0181. For walking enquiries via Active Travel call 051 934 2824.

To read more on the benefits of walking click on the NHS web page here and also for details on how to put your best foot forward for National Walking Month in May with Living Streets.

(1) source: NHS Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, 2017