First the bad news: the fast pace lifestyle that we have nowadays has finally rendered most of us very easily vulnerable to diseases and illnesses that were seldom in the past, such as heart diseases, cancer, hypertension, obesity, chronic conditions like asthma, constipation, etc.

The good news is: the simple answer to most of these physical conditions can be easily found in regular and frequent exercises like yoga, stretching, Tai Chi, swimming, or walking. Although these kinds of exercise don't have the macho look and feel as pumping iron, they're very good treatment or preventative measures for a majority of the nowadays medical conditions and diseases such as those mentioned above.

Among these exercises, simple walking can go a long way to improving one's health. Besides, walking is a fun and easy exercise that is also a great stress reducer. One of the greatest advantage walking has over the other exercises is that you can do it anywhere. No heavy duty gears needed except a pair of comfortable walking shoes. Simple walking as routine exercise can be easily carried out rain or shine. There simply is no excuse not to do it for at least 30 minutes a day on a regular basis. What if it's raining cats and dogs out? Just walking around a few times indoors can get the job done easily.

Studies have found and proven the value of such low impact exercise as walking to be whole lot greater than that of running and other more strenuous forms of exercise, which when not done correctly or under the right kinds of physical conditions, can cause all kinds of joint pain and soreness and thus have serious negative effects on the body itself rather than contributing some positive favors to it in the long run.

The key point to remember when using simple walking as regular exercise is to do it for a longer period of time every time, the reason being that it's best to build up the intensity of the exercise session in one go, rather than the 'stop and go' pace like the other exercises. When intensity is maintained over a period of at least 30 minutes to an hour or so, the body will burn whole lot more fat and calories that you'd feel very good afterwards. Besides, you just can't hurt yourself too much by just walking.

Therefore, more and more people have now realized the value of such an excellent form of exercise to such an extent that hiking and walking clubs are popping up everywhere. Not only walking can be a fun way to add spices to our social life and form new networks, but also it can be health enhancing as well, especially when we get more into shape and push our intensity to higher levels with walking programs like 'power walking' or mountain hiking.

The more fit we are, the more capable we become in pursuing higher levels of difficulty in our walking program. And thus the more health we can maintain.

Before we know it, we're as fit as fit can be!

What is the value of good health and longevity to you? Isn't it high time you got started right away?