Walking ‘could save 37,000 lives a year’ report claims

The benefits of walking have been reported across the UK media. The BBC reports that “walking more 'would save thousands' of lives in the UK”. These stories have been prompted by the "Walking Works” report (PDF, 3.4MB). It provides an overview of current evidence on physical inactivity, and makes the case for encouraging more people to take up walking as a form of physical activity. It lays out that a large proportion of the population is not meeting physical activity guidelines and that if more people did so, this could potentially save 37,000 lives a year in England. It also discusses the specific benefits of walking – such as the fact that it is free, requires no special equipment, and can be done by most people. Recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has also laid out similar potential benefits of walking and cycling, and made recommendations for organisations and institutions with responsibility for or influence in local communities aimed at helping these groups in encouraging and supporting people to walk and cycle. The NICE guidance recommends that money, time and effort is put into encouraging and supporting people to walk and cycle, with a co-ordinated approach from the authorities.   Who produced the report? The report was produced by the walking charity, Ramblers and Macmillan Cancer Support and was supported by Public Health England an agency of the Department of Health. Ramblers and Macmillan Cance...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Lifestyle/exercise QA articles Source Type: news