INFOGRAPHIC: Walking - It’s The Best Medicine

We’ve spent this month covering the topic of Walkability in both a general sense and by profiling specific neighbourhoods around Toronto. So, it’s safe to say that you may have an idea of what and where, but how about why? It might seem like a mundane question, but there are a number of staggering statistics regarding both the health benefits and the all around level of awareness on the topic of walking.

You’re probably thinking something along the lines of, “Obviously walking is good for you, give me a break!” but consider this: Close to half of Canadians (12.7 million people) are inactive in their leisure time, which is equivalent to less than half an hour of walking a day. Sedentary lifestyle is the single strongest predictor of death in over 50,000 people studied, ahead of both smoking AND hypertension. Furthermore, contrary to what you might think, residents of big cities such as Toronto have been found to be LESS active, despite the convenience of readily available amenities. And over a 12 year study of 8,000 men, walking only 2 miles (or 3.2 km) a day was found to cut the risk of death by 50%.

If those numbers don’t have you looking for some real estate in the highest walk-scoring neighbourhoods of the city, or at least changing your route to work, maybe the rest of the stats on display here will. Better throw on your comfiest kicks, and view this on your phone while you’re at it...just remember to look both ways.