🔔Walking has a significant positive impact on a person's 👍🍀weight, stress level, and health. It is the cheapest and most ⬆️accessible form of exercise and can be done anytime, 👍👍anywhere. It is also the safest way to get fit and does not 👍require special skills or a high level of fitness.
🤣Benefits of walking:
🐸Weight control
😀Persistent walking can help you lose weight or maintain 🔤🔤your weight. Every step you take burns a corresponding 👍number of calories, depending on your fitness, stride 👍👍length, and walking speed. For example, a 150-pound 😏😏person can burn 100 to 200 calories by walking briskly for 🔤30 minutes (about 4,000 steps). According to a study 🪙🪙published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2019, walking an🔤 ⭐average of 7,500 steps a day can significantly reduce⭐ 👍👍mortality in older women. Health experts recommend 💊💊walking more than 10,000 steps a day, which is 👏approximately equivalent to consuming 500 calories a day 👍👍(3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound of fat) to lose🫰 weight.

📣Health Management:
🔜Walking lowers cholesterol and blood pressure while also ✔️improving lung capacity. Consistently doing this low-🔄impact activity improves your bone and muscle strength, ⭐️🆓which helps support your body, allowing you to walk and 🎵maintain an upright posture. It also has a positive effect on 🎉mental and emotional health.
📣Improves Fitness:
🔍To get the most out of walking, you need to challenge your 🔝cardiorespiratory system by gradually increasing your 🚗💝pace. Achieve your target heart rate range for at least 20 💎minutes throughout your walk to see results. If you don't 📩have a heart rate monitor, you can check intensity by 📣⛏observing how your body responds to walking. If you start 🙃to sweat and your breathing speeds up, but you can still 🔋talk, you're at a moderate intensity. On the other hand, if 💵you stop to catch your breath while talking, you're 🪙💎💳exercising at a high intensity.
📣How to Get Started:
✏️Make the Necessary Preparations
🏠Schedule 20 to 45 minutes of continuous walking each day. 🎵Find the most realistic time you can fit walking into your 🛍lifestyle, and consider the best place to walk. It could be 💥🎉your home, workplace, village, or gym.
🙂Appropriate shoes and clothing. Hydrate before, during, 💱and after exercise. Pay attention to basic walking posture 💰and form. Straighten your back, drop your shoulders, and 💱tighten your core. Then look straight ahead, walk with your 🪙head held high, and swing your arms correctly.
📣Motivate yourself:
👎Invest in a fitness tracker to monitor time, heart rate, 🔥🔗steps, and calories burned. Your progress will motivate you 🤫to stick with an active lifestyle. If you're a "social exerciser," 🆕find a walking buddy or group. To kill boredom, try ➕✨✨listening to your favorite workout playlist or meditating ⚙️😮while you move.
📣Add a challenge to your workout:
🛡In addition to increasing speed and duration, you can 🆒🤫make your walking workout more challenging by choosing ☄️an incline surface, adding a one-pound dumbbell to work 🌐your arms, or incorporating sprints or jogging (interval 👀🙂training). Walking up and down stairs during the day is also 💔a great exercise to take your workout to the next level.

😇Managing and mitigating the impacts of the movement of 👍people and goods on the local and global environment is 👋essential for the Philippine government to protect the 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨health and well-being of its people and for sustainable 🖕🖕development. Therefore, we must seek to develop:
✉️Economic Goals
🎵Transport plays an important role in supporting the 🌈‼️🔽national economy, which in turn brings opportunities and ✔️prosperity to its people. To support these goals, we need ▶️to:
‼️PUMP Thematic Areas
☄️We can identify a number of thematic areas where ✔️▶️🎤transport-related policies can have a significant impact in ▶️supporting sustainable urban transport:
🔥Non-motorized transport (NMT)
💭Walking remains the most important mode of transport in ➕the Philippines. In Metro Manila, walking still accounts for 👍30% of total trips despite high levels of car dependence ℹ️⬇️(JICA, 2015). Even for motorized trips, journeys often begin and end on foot, highlighting the importance of good 🔄💯💯infrastructure for active and public transport.
✨It is therefore vital that cities provide a safe, comfortable 💧and appropriate environment for pedestrians.
🗓Walking not only avoids emissions from motorized travel, 🥇but also has a positive impact on public health. Walking is 🟢one of the most space-efficient modes of transport and 🔝🆕therefore deserves strong support as a way to address the 🎉growing problem of traffic congestion in cities.
🛍Likewise, bicycles for people and goods are a zero-emission 🏠mode of transportation that is also highly space-efficient 🫦compared to cars and trucks. Walking and cycling are the 📈most important pieces of the sustainable urban 🤫©ℹ️👍transportation puzzle and can be very cost-effective for ⏸❄️governments.
🤡PUMP consists of a set of ten actions that address the 📣💥barriers identified by Philippine cities in providing ➕🎵🎵improved non-motorized transportation facilities.
🧪Efficient, affordable, and economically sustainable 🫐🧦🎁transportation that provides economic vitality for 👼🧸🛷individuals and cities.
☕️Urban transportation systems that reduce negative 🧤🧤🧤impacts on the environment and public health, achieving 🚗“Healthy Cities”.

🎵Walking remains the most important mode of 👍🆕💳💵transportation in the Philippines. In Metro Manila, walking 🙃accounts for 30% of all trips despite high car dependence 👍(JICA, 2015). Even for motorized trips, the journey often 🔄🔤begins and ends on foot, highlighting the importance of 🔄good infrastructure for active public transportation. It is 🆒therefore crucial that cities provide a safe, comfortable, and 👎appropriate environment for pedestrians. Walking not only 💱avoids emissions from motorized trips, but also plays a 💰✏️positive role in public health. Walking is one of the most ⛏space-efficient modes of transportation and therefore ⭐⭐deserves strong support as a way to address the growing 😇traffic congestion in cities.
✨The benefits of NMT (non-motorized transport) can be 🎉🎉maximized by giving it a central role in the Philippine 💔👍National Transportation Policy.

💱The formulation of a national NMT policy will demonstrate 👩‍🔬a commitment to addressing the current problems faced 🫐by pedestrians and cyclists in Philippine urban areas. The 🎁policy will be formulated by the Department of 🔔🧦⭐️🧶Transportation with the help of other government 👍🕯❤️departments and appropriate national or international 🎏🔴NMT experts.

🔔The policy objectives of the National Policy are to:

🗓▪️ Increase walking activities;

⬇️▪️ Increase cycling activities;

🎮▪️ Reduce the fatality rate of pedestrian and cyclist traffic accidents on Philippine roads by 2030.😃