What makes walking so great for your health and what else you need to do

Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, bolster fitness and prevent disease. While it’s not the only sort of exercise people should do, it’s a great first step toward a healthy life.

Janet Rapp strode briskly down a paved path through the city zoo, waving at friends and stopping briefly to greet emus she knows by name.

The 71-year-old retiree starts each morning this way with a walking club.

“I’m obsessed,” she said. Not only does it ease her joint pain, “it just gives me energy … And then it calms me, too.”

Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, bolster fitness and prevent disease. While it’s not the only sort of exercise people should do, it’s a great first step toward a healthy life.

“You don’t need equipment and you don’t need a gym membership,” said Dr. Sarah Eby, a sports medicine physician with Mass General Brigham. “And the benefits are so vast.”

Walking can help meet the U.S. surgeon general’s recommendation that adults get at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity every week. This helps lower the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many types of cancer.

Walking also improves blood sugar levels, is good for bone health and can help you lose weight and sleep better, added Julie Schmied, a nurse practitioner with Norton Healthcare, which runs the free Get Healthy Walking Club.