Sports Book of the Month

52 Ways to Walk By Annabel Streets Release date: 17th February, 2022 Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport List Price: £14.00 Our Price: £10.48 You Save: £3.52 (25%) Buy Now

It could be argued that the pandemic has had at least one positive impact upon millions of folks: it?s ignited, or in many cases re-ignited, a love of walking. The benefits of walking, both mental and physical, have become even more evident over the past two years, while our appreciation of nature has resulted in many of us listening to birdsong or wanting to know names of trees and flowers, not simply take them for granted. Convinced of walking?s wide range of benefits before reading Annabel Streets? excellent book, your reviewer is even keener to get out again irrespective of whether storm Franklin is at its wildest. It would appear that Ms Streets enjoyed an epiphany not long after buying her first car at the age of 23. By her own admission, she used it for ridiculous short journeys and, coupled with her desk job, became engulfed in lethargy. Fortunately, after reading Bill Bryson?s A Walk in the Woods, where she discovered that the average American walks just 1.4 miles a week, she realised something must be done. ?Suddenly, I had a deep yearning for the life I?d lost, with its simple walking joys, [and] endless adventures on foot?I decided to re-oxygenate my life,? she writes. We should be thankful she did for what follows is the essential guide to the benefits of walking. It may take a while to stop using the car, to walk when it?s raining, or dark, windy or too hot, but it?s worthwhile. The impact walking has upon our health in incontrovertible: it can reverse diabetes; fend off heart problems; lower blood pressure; reduce weight; counter depression. As we walk, oxygen rushes through our bodies, helping vital organs; our memory, creativity; mood; strength. What?s not to like? Each chapter suggests a new mode of walking; there are 52 of them, one for each week of the year. Readers are treated to chapters on walking in the cold (where we learn of Christine Ritter who lived in the Arctic Circle and walked every day in temperatures as low as -35C). Cold walks, we?re told, keeps the brain on good working order. Streets explains how to walk properly, how to get your breathing right, how to walk in mud and much more. This book should be compulsory reading for every car driver; do yourself a favour and buy it.