Walking

Walking is the most natural human movement – and for most families, the easiest route to better health. You don't need any equipment, you can start and stop at any time, and nobody is too unfit, too young or too old for it.

A brisk walk at about 5.5 km/h equals 4.3 METs and so counts fully as moderate activity under the WHO recommendation. A person weighing 70 kilograms burns around 300 kilocalories an hour doing it. In 30 minutes, you clock up roughly 3,000 to 3,500 steps – a big chunk of your daily step count.

A walk after eating is particularly valuable: just 10 to 15 minutes of walking straight after a meal noticeably reduces the rise in blood sugar, because working muscles take up sugar directly from the blood. A review (Buffey et al., 2022) showed that even two to five minutes of light activity after eating helps measurably. So the classic after-dinner stroll is more than a ritual.

Walking is good for the mind too: it lowers stress hormones, gets ideas flowing and – side by side rather than face to face – is often the best setting for conversations with teenagers. Outdoors, you also get daylight, which supports your sleep rhythm.

How to make it a habit: fixed occasions (after dinner, the school run, phone calls), a regular route with a name (“the bakery loop”), and small tasks for children – collecting leaves, counting house numbers, bringing the scooter. If you want to walk faster, add short brisk sections or choose routes with hills. And when it rains: there's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong jacket.