Javascript is not enabled.

Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.

Skip to content
Content starts here
CLOSE ×
Search
Leaving AARP.org Website

You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

b66c2af4-53f2-49e9-8ef5-0e62b7d1645f

What Can Walking Do For You?

Take our quiz to see just how much lacing up and heading out can affect your health


spinner image WALK Quiz: Do you know what a walk can do for YOU?
Rami Niemi

Question 1 of 9

Walking at a brisk pace daily will help you:

Regular walks can help your weight and memory. In one study, researchers tracked older adults and found that those who walked six to nine miles a week reduced their risk of memory problems by 50 percent. But the habit’s most important role might be in boosting your overall health span, “which means not just living longer but adding more years of living independently as you age,” notes Mark Cucuzzella, a professor of family medicine at West Virginia University Department of Family Medicine. In his opinion, viewing walking only in terms of how many calories it burns sells the exercise short, given its dramatic benefits for key systems like your brain, heart and muscles. And research shows that when it comes to walking and your life span, more is more. A study from the American Cancer Society showed that an hour of walking a day lowered subjects’ risk of death by 30 percent, compared with those who stayed put on the couch.

Question 2 of 9

A 30-minute daily walk can dramatically reduce your risk of or improve your survival chances with:

Yep, keeping up a walking regimen is enough to dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease and some types of cancer. There’s even research  that found walking can influence your survival of breast and colon cancer. In one study, 992 people with stage 3 bowel cancer were assessed twice over an average of seven years. Those who followed exercise recommendations from the American Cancer Society (which could be met with moderate-intensity walking for 30 minutes five times a week) had a 42 percent lower risk of dying and less chance of a recurrence.

Question 3 of 9

What does one study show is the best way to use walking to lower your blood sugar?

Walking can be an important part of controlling blood sugar, and a recent study found the benefits accrue with either one longer walk of moderate intensity or three shorter walks a day. A study looking at type 2 diabetes by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services showed that adults over 60 who took short walks after every meal lowered blood sugar more effectively and for longer — up to three hours — than they did by performing other types of moderate exercise. The only hitch? You have to lace up after every meal to get the benefit from shorter walks, says the study’s lead author.

Question 4 of 9

True or false: For heart health, running beats walking.

A 2013 study using data in the National Runners and Walkers Health Study (a survey of 15,945 walkers and 33,060 runners conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in Berkeley, Calif.) revealed this surprising comparison: Runners reduced their risk of heart disease by about 4.5 percent, but walkers did even better, reducing that risk by more than 9 percent. While runners saw greater health benefits in other areas, the point is that walking holds its own as a heart-healthy option — and you certainly shouldn't balk at walking if you're no longer getting in those regular runs.

Question 5 of 9

Studies have found that walking can boost your brain health by:

The links between walking and preserving brain function just keep coming. One 2011 landmark study showed that simply by walking three days a week for 40 minutes, 65-year-olds could shave off about two years of typical age-related atrophy of the hippocampus. In that study, the group assigned to stretching instead of walking showed slight shrinkage of this region of the brain. And in a more recent study, researchers at New Mexico Highlands University found that the foot’s impact during walking generates pressure waves through the arteries that can increase the supply of blood to the brain, boosting its function. There’s also research out of University of Maryland School of Public Health that found walking four days a week for 12 weeks improved the recall memory of older adults.

Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition

Join AARP to Continue

Already a Member?

Question 6 of 9

One study showed that walking 30 minutes a day for a year can save you:

An analysis of 26,239 men and women, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, reported that being active will save you more than $2,500 annually in health care spending. In a nutshell, researchers found that those who don’t get off their duffs are more likely than those who do to develop diseases, and the costs to treat those illness are tremendous. So, in the same way that taking your own shopping bag to Whole Foods helps cut down the number of plastic bags cluttering up landfills, getting regular exercise through something as easy as walking means you contribute to lowering the high cost of health care in the United States today. Not that it doesn't benefit your personal bottom line (pun intended), too.

Question 7 of 9

True or false: Walking can actually make you more creative at work.

Researchers at Stanford University found that subjects who took a short walk increased their scores on a standard creative thinking test by around 60 percent, compared with those who had remained seated. So next time you’re stumped at work, get up and get walking — or consider taking your meeting on the go. In her popular TED Talk on that subject, Silicon Valley speaker and author Nilofer Merchant points out that this habit of tech titans helps reduce the 9.3 hours a day many people sit during a day, which has been shown to have deleterious health effects on its own. Merchant herself now walks 20 to 30 miles a week and finds that “fresh air drives fresh thinking.”

Question 8 of 9

How many steps a day do you need to boost your odds of living longer?

Research published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found walking just shy of 4,000 steps a day — 3,867, to be precise, or roughly 2 miles — can reduce your risk of dying from any cause. If you are already walking further than that, this doesn’t mean you should walk less. The further people walked in the analysis of more than 200,000 adults, the longer they were likely to live.

Question 9 of 9

Which of these is a tip for good walking form from LeBron James’ personal trainer Mike Mancias?

Author and trainer Mancias recommends this checklist for good walking form: look straight ahead with your chin lifted; gently roll your shoulders up and back and keep them there; pull in your belly to support your spine; walk with your arms at a 30 to 40 degree angle; and land heels first.

You have unanswered questions. Please go back and complete those questions to finish the quiz.

0 Correct
0 Incorrect
Oops...something went wrong. Please log out and log back in to continue.