Men 60+

Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier.

It's underrated as a form of exercise but walking is ideal for people of all ages and fitness levels who want to be more active.

Regular walking has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke and some cancers.

Use this guide to increase the amount of walking you do every week and maximise the health benefits.

Before you start

A pair of shoes is all the equipment you really need. Any shoes or trainers that are comfortable, provide adequate support and don't cause blisters will do.

Wear loose-fitting clothing that allows you to move freely. Choose thin layers rather than heavy, chunky clothing.

If you’re walking to work, you can just wear your usual work clothes with a comfy pair of shoes.

For long walks, you may want to take some water, healthy snacks, a spare top, sunscreen and a sunhat in a small backpack.

If you start taking regular, longer walks, you may want to invest in a waterproof jacket and some walking boots for more challenging routes.

Starting out

Start slowly and try to build your walking regime gradually. To get the health benefits from walking, it needs to be of moderate-intensity aerobic activity. In other words, it needs to be faster than a stroll.

Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you're walking fast enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat. One way to tell is that you'll be able to talk, but not sing the words to your favourite song.

Try to walk 10,000 steps a day. Most of us walk between 3,000 and 4,000 steps a day anyway, so reaching 10,000 isn't as daunting as it might sound.

If, to begin with, you can only walk fast for a couple of minutes, that's fine. Don't overdo it on your first day.

You can break up your activity into 10-minute chunks, as long as you're doing your activity at a moderate intensity.

Begin every walk slowly and gradually increase your pace. After a few minutes, if you’re ready, try walking a little faster.

Towards the end of your walk, gradually slow down your pace to cool down. Finish off with a few gentle stretches, which will help improve your flexibility.

From walking to the shops or part of your journey to work, to walking the dog and organised group walks, try to make every step count.

Staying motivated

Make it a habit
The easiest way to walk more is to make walking a habit. Think of ways to include walking into your daily routine. Examples include:

• Walk part of your journey to work.
• Walk to the shops.
• Use the stairs instead of the lift.
• Leave the car behind for short journeys.
• Walk the kids to school.
• Do a regular walk with a friend.
• Go for a stroll with family or friends after dinner.

If you live in a city, Walkit has an interactive walk planner to help you find the best walking route. Each suggested route includes your journey time, calorie burn, step count and carbon saving.

Mix it up
Add variety to your walks. You don’t have to travel to the countryside to find a rewarding walk. Towns and cities offer interesting walks including parks, heritage trails, canal towpaths, riverside paths, commons, woodlands, heaths and nature reserves. For ideas for inspiring walks, see Walk England. For wheelchair users and parents with buggies, visit Walks with wheelchairs.

Join a walking group
Walking in a group is a great way to start walking, make new friends and stay motivated. Walking for Health’s Walk Finder allows you to search for organised walks near you. Many of the walks are aimed at people who do little or no exercise, but who would like to become more active. Watch a video about Walking for Health's walking groups. Ramblers organises group walks for everyone, including previously inactive people, people with a specific health condition and people with wheelchairs.

Become a volunteer
One way to keep walking regularly is by becoming a volunteer to promote walking in your community and help other people get active. Walking for Health is England’s largest network of health walk schemes, helping people across the country lead a more active lifestyle. Apart from helping you stay active, volunteering is a great way to make new friends and explore your local area. Watch a video about volunteering for Walking for Health.

Get your boots on
Ramblers promotes walking for health, leisure and as a means for getting around to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, in towns and cities as well as in the countryside. Its website has details of many locally organised walking groups, for all levels of fitness.

Set yourself a goal
You can walk 1,000 steps in around 10 minutes. Pedometers are a fun way to keep track of your walking. Use a pedometer to work out your average daily steps and then start adding those extra steps. Find out how you can benefit from walking 10,000 steps on five or more days a week.

Eating a healthy diet and regular exercise can help lower the level of cholesterol in your blood.

Adopting healthy habits, such as eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising, will also help prevent your cholesterol levels from becoming high in the first place.

It's important to keep cholesterol in check because high cholesterol levels increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.

If you're concerned about your cholesterol, talk to your GP.

Foods containing cholesterol

Some foods contain cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is called dietary cholesterol. Foods such as kidneys, eggs and prawns are higher in dietary cholesterol than other foods.

The cholesterol found in food has much less of an effect on the level of cholesterol in your blood than the amount of saturated fat that you eat.

If your GP has advised you to change your diet to reduce your blood cholesterol, the most important thing to do is to cut down on saturated fat. It's also a good idea to increase your intake of fruit, vegetables and fibre.

Fats and cholesterol

There are two main types of fat – saturated and unsaturated. Eating foods that are high in saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels in the blood. Most people in the UK eat too much saturated fat.

Foods high in saturated fat include:

• meat pies
• sausages and fatty cuts of meat
• butter
• ghee
• lard
• cream
• hard cheese
• cakes and biscuits
• foods containing coconut or palm oil

Eating foods that contain unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat can actually help reduce cholesterol levels.

Try to replace foods containing saturated fats with foods that are high in unsaturated fats, such as:

• oily fish (such as mackerel and salmon)
• nuts (such as almonds and cashews)
• seeds (such as sunflower and pumpkin)
• vegetable oils and spreads (such as sunflower, olive, corn, walnut and rapeseed oils)

Trans fats can also raise cholesterol levels. Trans fats can be found naturally at low levels in some foods, such as those from animals, including meat and dairy products.

Artificial trans fats can be found in hydrogenated fat, so some processed foods such as biscuits and cakes will contain trans fats.

As part of a healthy diet, try to cut down on foods containing trans fats or saturated fats and replace them with foods containing unsaturated fats.

You should also reduce the total amount of fat in your diet. Try microwaving, steaming, poaching, boiling or grilling instead of roasting or frying. Choose lean cuts of meat and go for low-fat varieties of dairy products and spreads, or eat just a small amount of full-fat varieties.

Fibre and cholesterol

There are two different types of fibre – soluble fibre and insoluble fibre. Most foods contain a mixture of both.

Soluble fibre can be digested by your body (insoluble fibre cannot), and it may help reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood.

Good sources of soluble fibre include:

• oats
• beans
• peas
• lentils
• chickpeas
• fruit and vegetables

Try to include more of these foods in your diet. Aim to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. Find out more about eating 5 A DAY.

Cholesterol-lowering products

There's evidence that foods containing certain added ingredients, such as plant sterols and stanols, can reduce levels of cholesterol in the blood.

Sterols and stanols can be found in specially developed products, such as some spreads and yoghurts.

These foods are aimed at people who need to lower their cholesterol levels. People who don't have high cholesterol shouldn't eat these products regularly, particularly children and pregnant or breastfeeding women.

If your doctor has told you that you have high cholesterol, you can lower it by changing your diet without having to eat special products.

If you do eat foods that are designed to lower cholesterol, read the label carefully to avoid eating too much.

Get active

An active lifestyle can also help lower cholesterol levels. Activities can range from walking and cycling to more vigorous exercise, such as running and dancing.

Doing 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week can improve your cholesterol levels.

Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat.

One way to tell whether you're working at a moderate intensity is if you can still talk but you can't sing the words to a song.

Find out more about getting more active and achieving your recommended activity levels.

Eight practical, quick and simple steps you can take straight away to quit smoking

Talk to your GP

Many people don't realise that their GP can help them quit smoking. But your doctor can do a lot, such as enrolling you in a 'stop smoking' clinic and prescribing nicotine replacement therapy such as patches and gum, or stop smoking medication such as Champix.

Find out more about how your GP can help you quit.

Join an NHS Stop Smoking Service

The NHS has stop smoking services staffed by trained stop smoking advisers all over the country in a range of venues at times to suit you. You can join a group where local smokers meet once a week or have one-to-one support if you prefer. You usually go for a few weeks and work towards a quit date.

Find your nearest NHS Stop Smoking Service from the NHS Smokefree website, or call the Smokefree National Helpline to speak to a trained adviser on 0300 123 1044.

Get a free 'Quit Kit'

The kit is packed with practical tools and advice to help you stop smoking, including a 'tangle' to keep hands busy, a wallchart to keep track of your progress, stress-busting MP3 downloads, information on medicines that can help you stop smoking and exercises to improve your willpower. Order your Quit Kit online

Have an emergency phone number

Keep an emergency number, perhaps for your local NHS Stop Smoking Service. "We’re here from 7am to 11pm every day answering calls from people who are about to have a cigarette and want help not lighting up," says Chris, one of the helpline advisers. "We can talk about why you want to smoke and how to deal with your cravings."

Read more about how to cope with cravings.

Consider using NRT

Nicotine is addictive, and self-control alone might not be enough. Give yourself a better chance of success by using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). This is available either free or on prescription from your GP, depending on where you live, or from your local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Find your nearest NHS Stop Smoking Service from the NHS Smokefree website, or call 0300 123 1014.

Or, you can buy nicotine patches, gum and so on over the counter from a pharmacy.

Email an expert

Ask an NHS Smokefree expert for advice.

Get online help

Use our stop smoking tool to get daily tips for success.

Read more about the stop smoking treatments available on the NHS.