The proportion of kids who walk to school is not linked to the number of crashes in a neighbourhood. Instead the “built environment” is responsible, a new study shows. It’s among parents’ worst fears: their child getting hit by a car while walking to school. But a new study shows that the rate of child…
Modest exercise has anti-inflammatory effects on the body Just a modest amount of exercise may help reduce kidney disease patients’ risks of developing heart disease and infections, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Heart disease and infection are major complications and the…
We may think of baseball as America’s national pastime, but in the 1870s and 1880s there was another sports craze sweeping the nation: competitive walking. “Watching people walk was America’s favorite spectator sport,” Matthew Algeo says in his new book, Pedestrianism. “In the decades after the Civil War there was mass urbanization in the United States…
Having unhealthy cholesterol numbers, elevated blood pressure or an expanding waistline substantially increases your chances of developing heart disease. But an encouraging new study finds that exercise may slash that risk, even if your other risk factors stay high. Decades ago, scientists first began linking certain health conditions with heart disease. In the famous Framingham…
Today is National Walking Day, a perfect time to encourage everyone to get up and get moving. Engaging in physical activity is one of the most important things people of all ages can do to improve their health, and active living is one of the priorities of the National Prevention Strategy, called for by the…
Marathons have been increasing in popularity over the last decade, with 487,000 people finishing one in 2012 alone (up from 25,000 in 1976 and 353,000 in 2000). And now, a small new study shows that middle-aged people training for a marathon could be doing their hearts a favor. Research presented at a meeting of the American College of…
Mark your calendar for April 2, 2014 for the American Heart Association’s National Walking Day – always the first Wednesday each April. Get Up and Move These days, adults like you are spending more time at work than ever before. An unfortunate side effect is that, as a nation, we’re becoming more inactive. This is…
No doubt many of us are shooing off the last remnants of winter and rejoicing that (according to the calendar, at least) it’s finally spring. Good riddance, bulky coats and stuffy gyms. Welcome, t-shirts and jogs outside, where it’s lukewarm, flowery and full of people who are equally jazzed to be walking without shivering. Hallelujah….
The 26th Annual American Diabetes Association Alert Day is set for Tues., March 25. The event is a one-day, “wake-up call” asking the American public to take the Diabetes Risk Test to find out if they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Americans are urged to take the risk test, share it, and…
Natural environment stimulates the mind. Half my book was written while either running or cycling. I do not have a fancy treadmill desk that morphs into a cycling desk. I have a comfy chair that I’m sitting in as I type this column, but it doesn’t change the fact that large portions of this article…
