Health Walks are short organised walks, led by trained volunteers from the local community. Designed with health in mind they can improve both physical and mental health by offering a safe, friendly and supported environment where everyone can walk at their own pace and not be left behind to walk alone. There is also opportunity to socialise with refreshments at the end of the walk! Inactivity is as big a cause of heart disease as smoking and joining a Health Walk can contribute towards increasing your level of activity. Walking for half an hour five times a week can help to:

1. Halve the risk of coronary heart disease (heart attack);
2. Maintain an ideal weight and help with weight loss;
3. Improve co-ordination, flexibility and muscle strength, which can help to reduce the risk of falls for older people.
4. Reduce the risk of developing Type II diabetes;
5. Cut the risk of suffering a stroke by one third;
6. Ease depression and anxiety;
7. Help to reduce high blood pressure.

In addition, walking can make you feel good, give you more energy and help you sleep better.

Health Walks are perfect for beginners, for those who would like to become more active or perhaps lack the confidence and knowledge about where to walk. Many of the walks have a variety of routes and offer the opportunity to move onto more challenging walks as fitness increases. However, there will always be a short, unchallenging walk on offer for those who need it and all walks are supported by volunteer walk leaders.

There are various local walks around the county and we are continually looking to expand the walking programme, but as walks are primarily led by volunteers we are limited by the number of volunteers we have! So, if you enjoy walking and meeting people and have a little spare time why not think about being trained as a volunteer walk leader?

Current schemes are all over the south east; to find out more visit: Walking the way to health - South East