Walking in Your Neighborhood
Walking is good for everyone.
Walking has many benefits. For adults, it offers better control of your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol, helps manage stress and promotes better sleep.
For children, it can help them keep a healthy weight, prevent high blood pressure, type II diabetes, and high cholesterol (becoming more common among children), and improves body image and self esteem.
In pregnancy, walking promotes a healthy weight gain, can help with faster recovery, and lower the risk of depression and anxiety.
For seniors, walking can help prevent bone loss, boost energy levels, and delay or prevent the onset of chronic illnesses.
Walking in Columbus
Visit Get Active Columbus for great information about living an active lifestyle in Columbus!
Find your neighborhood walking map or create a new one.
Columbus Art Walks are a unique way to get active while seeing great art, architecture and historical sites.
Columbus Green Walks are a new way to get active while seeing natural resources and good green practices in Columbus' premier parks.
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See more health benefits.
Healthy Walking Tips
- Talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program
- Use a sunscreen with at least SPF 15
- Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing and comfortable shoes
- Layer your clothing for those in
- Drink plenty of water before, during, and after walking
- Use sidewalks and crosswalks as much as possible
- Engage children during the walk by playing games like hopscotch
- Warm up before you start and cool down and stretch when you’re done
Walking Groups
If you don't want to walk alone, you don't have to - join a walking group. Check to see if there is already a group in your area to join. If not, start one with your friends or neighbors. Advertise at local libraries, grocery stores, and health fairs to add more walkers. You can even set goals and track your progress as a group.
If you have a local neighborhood with a Block Watch - you can join and help build membership. Walking with such groups provides eyes on the street and helps make neighborhoods safer to walk for others.
To learn from a local walking group, the Driving Park Walking Club has been going strong in the Near East side since 2004. Visit www.drivingparkwalkingclub.org
Make walking part of your routine!
Adults need just 30 minutes of physical activity per day, 5 days a week. 10 minutes of activity at a time is fine! Kids need an hour a day for play, so turn off the TV!