Fitness Walking:
The One ActivityThat Lowers Stress, Blood Pressure And Cholesterol Naturally

Fitness walking should be part of the daily routine of all men and women nearing retirement age. However, women in retirement should be particularly interested in this activity for a number of reasons.

A number of activities are recommended for mature adults who want to remain as nimble in retirement as they were in their mid thirties or forties. These range from brain teasers to bicycling.

But this type of low impact exercise is an especially attractive sport for women in retirement because it targets the bones in addition to muscles. A woman is always concerned with the building of strong bones because of the ever present threat of osteoporosis.

Whereas a man in retirement can afford to focus mostly on building strong muscles with exercises such as swimming and bicycling for example, a woman's need is different.

Fitness walking is a moderate weight-bearing exercise that builds strong bones particularly because it forces you to work against gravity.

There's a particular type of walking exercise that has benefited people in Europe for many years and is now being used in America. It is called Nordic Walking. This fitness walking style which has been featured on Oprah turns a regular walk into a total body workout.

Whether you are an older woman with orthopedic problems or a younger woman looking to add more intensity to your workout with minimum impact on your joints, this exercise is worth a try. It has been shown to reduce back and shoulder pain. And, it burns up to 40% more calories than a regular walk.

Beware however. It may not be a walk in the park at first. It is definitely going to feel awkward since the exercise involves walking with 2 poles. But it is exactly those poles which seems to turn the regular walk into something much more beneficial.

Research shows that this type of exercise not only builds bone strength and tones muscles, it also has a positive effect on your mood.

In conclusion, if you haven't made walking part of your daily regimen, here's some additional reasons why you should start. Research shows that 30 minutes a day of this fun exercise is associated with a 30% to 40% lower risk of heart disease in women. The Nurses Health Study also showed that it boosts your good cholesterol, lowers your risk of stroke and reduces your risk of breast cancer.

Those are plenty of good reasons to start walking. And, since you're going to walk anyway, you might as well learn to Nordic walk.

Return from Fitness Walking to Retirement Living