People can reduce their chances of developing dementia and needing
psychiatric care by ensuring that they take regular walks.
Maria Castellina, the Ramblers woman, said that just a 30-minute stroll to the
shops and back, five times a week was enough to prompt a variety of health
benefits.
These are often associated with physical health, but a new scientific report
from the US, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
revealed the speed someone walks at has a correlation with the chances of them
developing dementia in later life.
Ms Castellina, said that walking will also particularly benefit a person's
cardiac and pulmonary health.
"You should be breathing a little faster, feeling a little warmer and feel
your heart beating a little faster, but you still feel comfortable and are able
to talk," she explained.
Organised country walks are a good way of sticking to the exercise, as people
are bound to make new friends, she added.
© Adfero Ltd
Elderly care news : 24 February 2012
