Want to try adding a little more walking into your daily routine? Visit WalkScore to find out just how walkable your neighborhood is and to zero in on businesses that are within walking distance of your home.

Another trick is to get a city map (or print out a Google map of your neighborhood) and make a "walking circle." Figure out how far you're willing to walk -- one mile is a good place to start -- and then set a compass for the appropriate distance. Set your home as the center point, then use the compass to draw a circle around it. Aim to walk to any destinations that fall within that circle.

Of course, not everyone lives in a walkable neighborhood, nor do they live close enough to walk or bike to work. Get more walking in your day by:

• Driving halfway or more to work, then parking your car and walking the rest of the way.
• Hand delivering messages, rather than using email.
• Taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Multi-tasking: Pace the halls while waiting for a doctor's appointment, walk around the field during your child's soccer practice.
• Taking a lunchtime hike around the block.
• Get off the bus or train early -- try one or more stops ahead of your destination and walk.
  
  

The whole point is, you burn more calories by walking than by sitting still, so the more movement you can squeeze into your day, the better!

Do you walk when you could drive? What kinds of tips and tricks can you share with our readers to make this healthy habit stick?

Got a Walking the Walk idea you'd like to see Bethany try for seven days? Share it with us in comments!

Here's a random-sounding connection: The older your house, the healthier you are. Confused? I know what you're thinking: How does one factor have anything to do with the other? Don't worry; there's a perfectly reasonable explanation.

It's not so much about the age of your house--it's about the age of your neighbourhood. You see, old neighbourhoods tend to be more walkable, whereas newer neighbourhoods tend to be built around this unfortunate habit we've developed of driving everywhere. And not so surprisingly, how walkable a neighbourhood is has a direct impact on the levels of obesity in the area.

So next time you're in the market for a house, consider buying into a older neighbourhood--or at least one where you can walk to the store.

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Here at That's Fit we give out a lot of advice on incorporating exercise and physical activity into your everyday activities to save time and make it less of a conscious effort. A big part of that is walking more often when you may have driven before, i.e. parking at the far end of the parking lot and walking to a nearby cafe for lunch instead of driving to the restaurant across town. So how walk-friendly is your neighborhood? Walkscore.com will give your address a score based on the proximity of businesses like restaurants, post offices, parks, schools, theaters, you name it. It even lists everything on a map so you can get a clear picture of what's where.

My neighborhood didn't do so well, scoring only a 34, because I'm right smack in the middle of a large residential area with hardly any businesses. Great for walking the dog, but not so great for walking errands.


Via Lifehacker

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In a recent study, men living in "walkable neighborhoods" were found to have fewer symptoms of depression than those living in less pedestrian friendly areas. Although moderate exercise has been shown to help with depression, the experts in this study believe the results are a combination of increased physical activity and the men feeling more connected to and part of their community. With depression becoming a bigger and bigger issue in society every day, especially in the aging population, results like these could have an impact not only on where people choose to retire, but also where buildings like senior centers are located.

Interestingly, the same results did not hold true for women.

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