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Walking is good for you, there\u2019s no doubt about it<\/a>. It has been linked to health benefits for your heart, lungs, muscles, mind and beyond \u2013 and it\u2019s free<\/a>. <\/p>\n For most people, the only thing you need to invest is time. The problem is, many of us don\u2019t have a huge amount of that. And it is for this reason that leading physical activity researcher Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis of the University of Sydney has made it his mission to uncover efficient ways of lowering the barrier to entry for exercise for time-poor people. <\/p>\n In the last 12 months, he and his colleagues have unearthed two ways to increase the health benefits of a simple stroll<\/a>. Firstly, inject a bit of pace, and secondly, rack up more steps in a single bout. <\/p>\n His first study<\/a> looked at the health benefits of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity, or VILPA for short. This is any daily activity that leaves you out of breath, such as climbing the stairs or hauling heavy shopping bags between the shop, your car and your house. <\/p>\n It found that, in people who didn\u2019t exercise otherwise, \u201cbetween five to 10 episodes of vigorous-intensity activity, lasting up to one minute, done on a daily basis, seems to be associated with between 30 and 50 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular conditions, cancer and mortality\u201d.<\/p>\n To integrate this into your day, you could switch from a slow walk to a brisk or fast one, or purposefully pick a hilly route. Other options include swapping the escalator for the stairs, picking a parking spot that\u2019s further from the supermarket door or playing an active game with your children. The phrase \u201cvigorous gardening\u201d was also used during my chat with Professor Stamatakis \u2013 if you raise your breathing rate to the point you can\u2019t speak in complete sentences, you\u2019ve hit the nail on the head. <\/p>\n