More walking is exactly what the doctor ordered – Blaise Tapp

The 21st century really is the golden age of rage and fury.

Road rage, air rage, supermarket rage and online trolling are all part of modern life. Add to that the fact that life, fuelled by the endless possibilities of technology, is busier than our ancestors could imagine there is no wonder that so are showing signs of stress.

Thankfully, unlike previous generations, many of us feel that we can talk about whatever it is that is dragging us down. Thirty odd years after Bob Hoskins first coined the phrase, we have finally cottoned on that it really is good to talk. Letting it all hang out over a pint or even a cuppa has certainly helped me during the darker periods of my life.

But now experts believe that, as well as talking, it is also good to walk, after a study revealed the positive effect of stretching one’s legs. Scientists have reported that a walk for 20 to 30 minutes will lower our bodies’ stress hormones by up to 10 per cent which, to a layman like me, sounds like the difference between surviving another day at the coalface and telling your workmates what you really think about them.

A rapid dart to the pub or the bookies won’t cut it – the medical world really wants us to get out more. The trouble is, I don’t remember the last time that I had the chance to walk anywhere by myself, when there wasn’t a turbocharged little person attempting to scale the nearest evergreen or befriend any devil dogs which might be within a half mile radius.

But we do need to applaud the medical profession for continuing to remind us that, while it is easy to become overwhelmed by life, putting it right doesn’t always have to be rocket science.??????????????????????????????????? If getting away from it all for as little as 20 minutes alleviates some of our daily anxieties then we really do need to shout about that, rather than getting angry at the world.