VOA健康报道2024--What Are the Good Effects of Walking?

 

Many medical experts say that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, support fitness and prevent disease. They advise that walking is a great first step toward a healthy life although other forms of exercise are also important.

Good effects of walking

Dr. Sarah Eby is a sports medicine physician with Mass General Brigham in the state of Massachusetts. Eby said walking has many good effects and people do not need extra things. "You don't need equipment and you don't need a gym membership," Eby noted¹ "And the benefits are so vast."

The U.S. surgeon general, a federal health officer, recommends that adults get at least two and a half hours of moderate-intensity physical activity every week.

Walking helps meet that goal. Exercise lowers the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many kinds of cancer.

Walking also helps blood sugar levels, is good for bone health, and can help people lose weight and sleep better. That is what Julie Schmied said. She is a health care worker with Norton Healthcare in Kentucky, which runs the free Get Healthy Walking Club.

Walking is also a relatively² low-impact exercise that puts less pressure on joints⁴ than other exercises while strengthening the heart and lungs.

James Blankenship is 68 years old. He said joining a walking club at the Louisville Zoo last year helped him recover after a heart attack and a complex triple-bypass heart operation in 2022.

"My cardiologist says I'm doing great," he said.

Some say walking is not enough. Anita Gust⁵ teaches exercise science at the University of Minnesota Crookston. Gust said walking "is not enough for overall health and well-being⁶" because it does not provide resistance training that builds muscle strength and endurance.

Some health experts say that is especially important for healthy bone development in women as they age.

Experts recommend adding other activities at least twice weekly. These could include using weights, gym equipment or one's own body for resistance exercises. Training that improves flexibility⁷, like yoga or stretching, can also be helpful.

How much should you walk?

Many people have heard about the walking goal of 10,000 steps a day. This advice dates back to a 1960s marketing⁸ campaign in Japan. But, experts note that this is only a guideline.

Shmied said the average American walks about 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, and it is fine to increase that number to 10,000.

Setting a time goal can also be useful. Shmied suggests dividing the recommended 150 minutes per week into 30 minutes a day, or 10 minutes three times a day, for five days. During rainy or snowy weather, people can walk in malls or on treadmills¹⁰.

As they become seasoned walkers, they can speed up or walk up hills while still keeping the activity level moderate.

"If you can talk but not sing," Eby said, "that's what we consider moderate-intensity exercise."

Staying with your walking program

Walking with friends, including dogs, is one way to keep walking.

Walking clubs have appeared across the nation. In 2022, 31-year-old personal trainer Brianna Joye Kohn started City Girls Who Walk with a TikTok post inviting¹¹ others to walk with her in New York.

"We had 250 girls show up," she said.

Since then, the group has walked every Sunday for around 40 minutes, with some meeting afterward¹² for a meal or coffee.

The Louisville Zoo launched its walking club in 1987. It joined with Norton Healthcare in 2004 to expand it and now has more than 15,000 registered members. Every day from March 1 through October 31, people walk around and around the zoo before it officially opens.

Recently, Janet Rapp walked down a path through the city zoo, waving at friends and stopping briefly¹³ to greet big flightless birds called emus that she knows by name.

The 71-year-old retiree starts each morning this way with a walking club.

"I'm obsessed," she said. Not only does it ease her joint³ pain, "it just gives me energy...And then it calms me, too."

Words in This Story

gym (gymnasium) -n. a building or room that has equipment and space for exercise

vast -adj. extremely great or large

impact -n. involving force against or on something

endurance -n. the ability to be physically¹⁴ active for a long time

flexibility -adj. the ability to bend and move one's body freely without pain or injury

treadmill⁹ -n. a machine with a moving surface that lets the user walk in place

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

5 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

6 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

7 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

8 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

9 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

10 treadmills   

n.枯燥无味的工作[生活方式]( treadmill的名词复数 )；（尤指旧时由人或牲畜踩动踏板使之转动的）踏车；（锻炼身体的）跑步机，走步机

参考例句：

• But soon, you may think microwave ovens and treadmills too. 但是不久的将来，您可能还会想到微波炉或健身踏车什么的。 来自互联网
• The Gym has several treadmills an X-trainer machine, bicycles, weights and mats for floor work. 体育馆里配备了：跑步机、教练机、自行车、哑铃和专为做地板运动准备的垫子。 来自互联网

11 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

12 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

13 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

14 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。