Watch this full screen. You can see the huge influx of people to Washington, DC’s Union Station in the morning, the proportion of people with bikeshare accounts (blue lines) versus “casual riders” who rent on the fly, likely tourists (red lines), who are part of an afternoon outflux. The Center for Total Health (@KPTotalHealth) is…
Exercise seems to be good for the human brain, with many recent studies suggesting that regular exercise improves memory and thinking skills. But an interesting new study asks whether the apparent cognitive benefits from exercise are real or just a placebo effect — that is, if we think we will be “smarter” after exercise, do…
Walking economy is a key predictor of morbidity in older adults. In case you were looking for another reason to continue–or take up–running in your golden years, new research published in PLoS ONE found that seniors who run several times a week expend the same amount of energy, or have the same “economy” when walking…
Finding the motivation to exercise can be a challenge at any time of year. Add cold weather and shorter days to the mix, and working out – especially outdoors – can seem like a tremendous feat. But exercising outdoors has a range of benefits such as increasing vitamin D exposure and a general sense of…
A colleague of mine, Tyler Norris, recently shared “21 good, great and amazing reasons to get walking”. I can’t help but share them with you. 1. Walking 20 minutes a day will burn 3.2kg of fat a year; 2. Walking 45 minutes a day halves the odds of catching a cold; 3. ONE minute of…
Thoreau may have been the literary world’s poster boy for walks. His passion for walking complemented his general valorization of nature; to truly experience the woods is to ramble through them rather than to remain cooped up indoors or to speed through them on a horse or other means of conveyance. As Maria Popova of…
I could have saved myself the cost of a trip to the coast. I live at an elevation of 3,500 feet, and last year I traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, to run my Boston Marathon qualifying race. As it turns out, any boost I got from traveling to sea level was purely psychological. That isn’t…
The innocuous little band on Seth Mnookin’s wrist may not seem like much, but it has transformed the way he goes about his day. The device, a fitness tracker called Fitbit, counts the steps he takes and allows him to log them online. “It’s changed my behavior dramatically,” says Mnookin, a 42-year-old journalist and associate…
America Walks recently launched its newest publication on the innovative approaches local leaders are taking to address the issue of walkability. Recognizing the importance that local leaders play in making meaningful community change, America Walks has produced case studies showcasing four local elected officials and their personal campaigns to improve walkability and increase walking in…
After a $38 million face-lift, the first floor of the Eiffel Tower is now made of glass! Millions of visitors who flock to the landmark each year can look down through the tower’s central void to the ground about 200 feet below. To make things even scarier, the glass safety barriers around the edge incline…