Evidence for anxiety , psychological stress , psychological well-being , subjective well-being and social isolation and loneliness varied in volume and effectiveness , but no harmful effects were identified .
The setting and context of walking seems to be important variables .
Background / objectives Walking has well-established positive relationships with , and effects on , physical health .
In contrast , while poor mental health contributes substantially to global health burden , an overview of the benefits from walking has not previously been published .
We aim ed to scope the literature and present what is known , and highlight what is not known , about walking and mental health .
A Web-Based Intervention to Encourage Walking (StepWise): Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Background Despite Internet-based interventions that incorporate pedometers with appropriate goal - setting processes and other theoretically-based behavior change strategies being proposed as a means of increasing walking behavior , few have incorporated all of these key features or assessed maintenance of behavior change . Objective The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of a 12-week pedometer step goal walking program individually tailored to baseline step counts , combined with an interactive support website for step counts , health parameters and motivation over 12 and 24 weeks . Methods Low active participants ( mean [ SD ] 46.2 [ 11.2 ] years ) were r and omly assigned to the  Stepwise ( SW ) intervention group ( n=49 ) or a  comparison ( CP ) group ( n=48 ) . SW received a pedometer , step goal walking program and access to the SW website ( containing interactive self-monitoring and goal feedback tools , motivational messages and action and coping planning strategies ) . CP received a pedometer and locally available physical activity information . Step counts , BMI , resting heart rate , blood pressure and glucose , cholesterol and triglyceride levels , psychological well-being , perceived health , self-efficacy and self-determined motivation were measured at baseline , 12 and 24 weeks . Results Linear mixed model analysis found that both groups ’ step counts increased from baseline to week 12 ( β = 11,002 , CI 5739 - 16,266 , P<.001 ) and 24 ( β = 6810 , CI 1190 - 12,431 ; P=.02 ) . Group step counts were significantly different at week 24 with SW taking 8939 ( CI 274 - 17604 , P=.04 ) more steps compared to CP . Compared to baseline , both groups had improved triglyceride levels ( 0.14 mmol/L , CI -0.25 to -0.02 , P=.02 ) at week 12 , decreased diastolic blood pressure ( 4.22 mmHg , CI -6.73 to -1.72 ) at weeks 12 and 24 ( 3.17 mmHg , CI -5.55 to -0.78 ) , improved positive ( β = .21 , CI 0.03 - 0.38 , P=.02 ) and negative affect ( β = -.15 , CI -0.28 to -0.03 , P=.02 ) at week 12 , and perceived health at week 12 ( β = 6.37 , CI 2.10 - 10.65 , P=.004 ) and 24 ( β = 8.52 , CI 3.98 - 13.06 , P<.001 ) . Total cholesterol increased at week 12 ( 0.26 mmol/L , CI 0.099 - 0.423 , P=.006 ) and week 24 ( 0.38 mmol/L , CI 0.20 - 0.56 , P<.001 ) . Repeated measures ANOVA found motivation for walking improved from baseline with higher task self-efficacy ( P<.001 , η2 = .13 ) and autonomous motivation ( P<.001 , η2=.14 ) at weeks 12 and 24 and decreased controlled motivation ( P=.004 , η2=.08 ) at week 24 . Conclusions Both groups had similar improvements in step counts and physical and psychological health after 12 weeks but only the SW group successfully maintained the increased step-counts 24 weeks post-intervention . This suggests the step- goal based walking program combined with Internet-based behavior change tools were important for sustained behavior change
Evidence for anxiety , psychological stress , psychological well-being , subjective well-being and social isolation and loneliness varied in volume and effectiveness , but no harmful effects were identified .
The setting and context of walking seems to be important variables .
Background / objectives Walking has well-established positive relationships with , and effects on , physical health .
In contrast , while poor mental health contributes substantially to global health burden , an overview of the benefits from walking has not previously been published .
We aim ed to scope the literature and present what is known , and highlight what is not known , about walking and mental health .