Tip: Study shows walking lowers risk of stroke

Now that the long winter is just a bitter cold memory, there's no excuse not to get outside. But don't just stand there: Start walking.

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health that looked at more than 39,000 middle-aged women over a period of 12 years found that those who walked at least two hours a week had a 37 percent lower risk of suffering a stroke than the nonwalkers. Those who said they walked at a brisk pace did even better. Their risk of suffering a stroke was 68 percent less than the nonwalkers. Brisk was defined as a pace of at least 3 miles an hour.

The study was published earlier this month in the medical journal Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.