Greenway trails are paved, gravel and boardwalk paths that serve as buffers to construction along creeks and help preserve natural areas for wildlife and native plants. These trails are also avenues of free recreation for bicyclists, joggers, walkers, in-line skaters, skateboarders, people walking leashed pets or pushing baby strollers, and those taking a stroll to observe and appreciate a city’s natural beauty in the form of trees, streams and wildlife.
Walking briskly for 30 minutes a day, five days a week has numerous health benefits and little to no cost. Walking is a low impact exercise that entails zero fees and requires no equipment besides the sneakers on one’s feet. Walking on greenways is a way to incorporate healthy exercise into a natural, eco-friendly setting.
According to the Mayo Clinic’s tools for healthier lives, walking has seven major health benefits that include reducing the risk of heart attack; reducing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes; managing blood pressure, weight, existing diabetes, and stress; plus maintaining physical independence with age.
According to AARP guidelines, walking also has the added health benefits of boosting good cholesterol, lowering the risk of stroke, reducing the risk of breast cancer, avoiding the need for gallstone surgery, and protecting against hip fracture. Walking also assists in preventing depression, colon cancer, constipation, osteoporosis and impotence; lengthening lifespan; relieving arthritis and back pain; strengthening muscles, bones, and joints; and improving sleep.
Thirty-two percent of Americans are obese, and the past three decades have shown the greatest increase of obesity rates, with women between the ages of 20 and 34 having the fastest increase of overweight status, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Obesity leads to many of the ailments that the Mayo Clinic and the AARP list as health issues that may be improved, prevented or eliminated by walking regularly. Walking helps people manage their weight and, therefore, helps them prevent diseases and reduce or manage health problems they may have already developed.
The American Greenways Program of The Conservation Fund has been encouraging and rewarding greenway development nationwide since 1993. According to their homepage, greenways are corridors of protected land along rivers, stream valleys, ridges, abandoned railroad corridors, utility rights-of-way, canals, scenic roads and other linear features. Greenways link recreation and nature, provide pathways for people, protect forests, wetlands, grasslands and wildlife; and improve people’s quality of life.
Taking advantage of these greenways, by either walking on them or engaging in other forms of physical exercise, benefits a person’s weight, health, and the environment.
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