A woman’s life is never her own. Like most women, you probably spend a good deal of your time caring for others. Children, your husband, parents, grandparents, in-laws and your extended family and friends all need your support and help from time to time. A working woman has to scramble even more to prepare meals, help kids with homework, manage health care for an aging parent, wash clothes, and generally keep the household running smoothly. The hours of the day just zoom past. The sense of time slipping through your fingers can sometimes be overwhelming. As a result, you probably do not spend enough time taking caring of yourself.

Indian women are at high risk for developing hypertension, diabetes and obesity, which alone or in combination can result in heart disease. There's one activity that you can start today to improve your health, and with so many people counting on you what could be more important? That activity is walking. Walking has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases, so consider it vitally important to your well being.

It has been shown without any prejudice that moderate exercise is the most important dynamic in modifying risk factors for heart disease.

I don’t have the time!

This is the first cry of protest from most women, specially working women. You have to make time. It is vital to your life.

Here are some strategies to give you exercise in a busy day.

• Wake up 30 minutes earlier than you normally do and before the family is up and about, sneak in a small walk.
• At home, walk up and down the stairs for 15 minutes. At work, take the stairs instead of the lift. Who needs an expensive Stairmaster at the gym when you have stairs at your disposal!
• Get off at the bus stop before your usual one so that you can get 15 minutes of walking both going and coming from college, your workplace or any other destination.
• If you live or work near the park, library, vegetable shop, department store or other frequent destinations, consider walking (rather than driving or taking public transportation) to get to where you need to go.
• You can recapture your youth- skipping with a jump rope can be good exercise