Walking is by far the most popular form of exercise among American women. But until now, there has been little research to show whether it does much good. This is good news, experts say.
Many people are reluctant to work out because they think it's too hard.
If they think they are getting no benefit from moderate exercise, they tend to turn into couch potatoes. The new work suggests that staying fit requires nothing more than a purposeful walk in the park. Her findings, which have not yet been published, were presented Tuesday at a scientific meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans. The study was conducted on women nurses ages 40 to 65 who had no sign of heart trouble when they filled out questionnaires about exercise in 1986. Nearly half of the nurses in the study exercised by walking alone.