Just a quick check in this morning to show you some new research.

Calling all my extended period of time desk-sitting chiquitas!

photo credit: businesschicks.com.
photo credit: businesschicks.com

Check out this little video below.

Researchers find that adding two minutes of light exercise to each hour of your day lowers your risk of dying prematurely by 33 percent

It’s the latest research to show how important simply walking can be for your health. Earlier this year British researchers also found that just one, energetic, 20-minute daily stroll can slash your risk of early death. They tracked more than 330,000 European men and women over a 12-year span. 

Walking is considered the “superfood of fitness,” according to experts. A small study of non-obese men at Indiana University suggests that three 5-minute walks done throughout three hours of prolonged sitting (which many of us have to do during the day at work) can reverse the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on arteries in the legs.

And walking is really just as good for you as running, in terms of calories burned, according to an earlier report. That is, if you walk for a mile, you get the same benefits as running for a mile.”  – (Today.com)

This is good news people!

We’ve heard about the positive benefits of walking for years, and while I see many people push it REALLY HARD at the gym, I’ve always been a more of a moderate pusher at the gym. It never felt good on my body or joints to do extremely heavy weights, or do 25,000 squats or lunges with heavy weights. It was simply my intuition. But I am reading more and more studies that show that heavy and hard endurance can actually make us age faster. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what feels right for your body – I ain’t no fitness trainer.

All I know is, in a world where we’re told not to eat dairy, carbs, gluten, sugar, and other, I would die if I couldn’t have my morning coffee, my glass of wine every couple of days, my garlic mashed potatoes, or my cheese (I’m a confessed cheeseaholic). I think life is about MODERATION. You MUST be good to your MIND, BODY AND SOUL, we know this and I don’t want to minimize it, but I don’t think you can deprive yourself of all pleasurable things.

As I said in my Turning 40 blog post, “I’ve learned that I have a love affair with music and food. If my hearing goes early in life, it will be worth it. And if I put on five more pounds, but ate everything I loved, well, that’ll be just fine. Life is about doing what you love.”

So, I’m happy to hear this new research on walking. I can walk to help myself. I can do that. That’s doable.

What do you think?

Erica3