Maintain your brain

Not only does walking help people process traumatic memories and deal with stress, it also helps stave off cognitive and memory problems. How? By preventing brain shrinkage — an important factor in the fight against both mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. “Because a cure for Alzheimer’s is not yet a reality, we hope to…

Walking away from PTSD

My Q&A on ex-Marine Sean Gobin’s Warrior Hike program, in which American war vets thru-hike the 2,180-mile-long Appalachian Trail to come to terms with the traumatic sights and sounds of battle, ran as the Big Idea feature in the Focus section of Saturday’s Globe and Mail. Considering how Canadian soldiers returning from Afghanistan are struggling…

Walkumentary

The Walking Revolution, a new 30-minute documentary produced an American organization called Every Body Walk!, is now available online. Focused on the health benefits of walking, the film makes a strong case why physical inactivity is the biggest health problem of the 21st century — and how we can address it.

Bionic woman

Excited about my interview tomorrow with Amanda Boxtel, executive director of the Bridging Bionics Foundation and an ambassador for Ekso Bionics. Paralyzed in a ski accident in 1992, she is walking again with help from an exoskeleton. Here’s her incredible story:  

Walking in a (simulated) winter environment

I just wrapped up two fascinating days of research at the Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory (aka CEAL), part of Toronto Rehab’s iDAPT Centre. The lab, a world leader in rehabilitation research, is home to dozens of projects aimed at making our streets, homes and workplaces safer. One of its goals is help prevent injuries before they…

Stephen King walks

Anybody who has read it may still be chilled by it: The Long Walk, by Richard Backman (a.k.a. Stephen King). The 1979 novel, the first King wrote, is about a life-and-death walking contest in America’s dystopian future. Kind of like a cross between Rollerball and The Road. King is known to be a prolific writer,…