The latest UK Government statistics from the Department of Transport have been released concerning how active we are as a nation, and there are some quite surprising results, the biggest of which is that 14% of adults go a whole month without even taking a 10 minute walk.

When this was looked at by age, as many as 24% of men aged 65 and over and 27% of women in the same age bracket were found to have not had a monthly 10 minute stretch of the legs. Looking at these figures it does mean that 86% of adults do undertake a walk, for at least 10 minutes, once a month, with the highest figures being in Cambridgeshire where 57% were found to be walking at least five times a week.

The most frequent walkers are those in the 16-24 age group with figures showing that 92% of men and 94% of women walk at least once a month, so women are more active and this continues up to the age of 44. So we all need to do a little more, help each other be a little more active, as regular walking has been proven to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses including some cancers, as well as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, asthma and stroke.

Urban dwellers are more likely to walk because they have to, while people in rural parts are more likely to do so for pleasure.

However, some areas of the country are walking hot-spots – such as Leeds, Corby in Northamptonshire and the Surrey town of Guildford – which have seen significant rises of 15 percentage points, but the flipside of this shows that 25 per cent of people in Knowsley near Liverpool fail to walk for 10 minutes every month, compared with 5 per cent in Wandsworth, south London, and almost 8 per cent in Cambridge.

Some of us need to be more active, so why not take advantage of the weather, grab a new pair of walking boots or shoes from our website and get started. You can even walk to our store in Macclesfield and get fully kitted out to take on your more active lifestyle.