a stroke. For prevention of diabetes
and as a secondary treatment of car-
diovascular disease, walking is equally
as effective as taking drugs.
In 2019, a Journal of Clinical Oncol-
ogy study reported that a small amount
of physical activity—such as taking
a brisk walk for 20 minutes or more a
day—is linked to a lower risk of seven
types of cancer. Meanwhile, more
walking means better sleep, too. In a
recent study of middle-aged men and
women, the participants who took
more steps during the day slept better
at night.
“We need to start thinking about
walking as a healthy activity,” advises
Dr. Jane Thornton, a family physician
in London, Ont. She advocates for the
idea that we consider physical activity
as medicine—a philosophy that grew
out of personal experience. Thornton
was a shy, sedentary 14-year-old when
she signed up for a beginner’s rowing
class in Fredericton. While her physical
fitness improved, a new social circle
opened to her and her grades went up.
Thornton went on to become a world-
champion rower and represented
Canada at the 2008 Olympics.
A few years after competing in the
Olympics and shortly before retiring
from sport, she enrolled in medical
school. She was surprised by the lack
of information provided to physicians-
in-training about the benefits of exer-
cise. “For whatever reason, there just
wasn’t any content at all on physical
activity,” she says.
In 2014, Thornton started working on
a campaign with the Canadian Acad-
emy of Sport and Exercise Medicine to
get doctors to prescribe physical activity
for patients—including walking. “I
don’t think it’s a panacea for everybody,but it is one of the easiest, best solutions
we have at our disposal,” she says.
One significant reason that walking
is so good for us is fairly straightfor-
ward: when we move, our hearts work
harder to transport blood to the work-
ing muscles and organs. That repeated
effort strengthens the heart muscle,
making it pump more efficiently at all
times, sending blood around the body
with fewer beats per minute. Exercise
also improves the function of blood
vessels, with one analysis reporting
that aerobic exercise can improve our
vascular health.PHYSIOTHERAPISTS LIKE TO SAY,
“MOTION IS LOTION.” THEY’RE RIGHT:
WALKING REDUCES MUSCLE STIFFNESS.rd.ca 51