COEUR d’ALENE — Want to lose weight?

Feeling aches and pains?

Stressed out?

Forgetting things?

Start walking.

“Walking is one of the best forms of exercise you can perform,” said Becky Hayes, physical therapist with Kootanei Health.

Walking just five days a week, 30 minutes a day, even broken into three 10-minute sessions, can make a world of difference. That’s 150 minutes that could change your life for the better.

But you have to start walking. Mind you, we’re not talking about walking to the refrigerator, walking to the turn on the television, walking to sit down or walking to take a nap.

We’re talking walking for exercise.

People who walk more than 6,000 steps per day for recreation have less pain and less disability, said Hayes. It can improve cardiovascular health, improve memory, help with weight loss, and is low-impact, so your knees don’t take the same pounding as they do from running.

You can walk alone. With friends. With family. You can walk fast or slow. Up and down. Try the same route or new ones.

On any given weekend morning you’re likely to see lots of walkers on Tubbs Hill, Canfield Mountain, Mineral Ridge the North Idaho Centennial Trail, or City Park.

Come winter, walkers take the the Silver Lake Mall. Or they’ll head indoors to treadmills at health clubs.

“In this area people do realize the benefit of walking,” Hayes said.

So, if walking for recreation is so good for you, and it’s free, why are fewer people doing it than a few years ago? According to www.statista.com, in 2013 there were 117.3 million people walking for recreation. In 2018, it was down to 111 million.

If walking is one way to improve your body and mind while maintaining social distance, why isn’t everyone doing it?

Well, unfortunately, many of us are also lazy in America. Many people prefer to sit home, eat and watch TV rather than stand up, exercise and go outside. It’s a reason why this country has an obesity rate of about 40%. This is a country where people used to walk to the store a few blocks away. Now, we drive in our cars.

Long story short: Walk more, talk less. See what happens.