The Checkup: Why 35 Minutes of Walking Is Really, Really Good for a Woman’s Health

• Sure, running a marathon’s a great feat, but new research shows that you don’t need to put in 50 miles a week to do something good for your heart. Spanish researchers evaluated over 13,000 men and 19,000 women between the ages of 29 and 69, who agreed to participate in a 10-year study. The subjects kept track of and reported how many times a week they exercised, and answered questions about their medical history, lifestyle and diet. At the end of the study, they found that women who walk three-and-a-half hours a week—that works out to just 35 minutes a day—were able to lower their stroke risk compared to those who didn’t walk regularly. And here’s something interesting: the correlation didn’t hold true for the men. Read more, including how fast you need to walk to see the benefit (note: it ain’t fast), here.

• Married people live longer—that’s according to the results of a new study, which found that people who are single during midlife are twice as likely to die earlier than their married peers. Read more here.

• Two presidential news items today: 1) former President George H.W. Bush, who’s been hospitalized since November for complications related to bronchitis, may be released as early as today; and 2) President Obama took a physical fitness test over the weekend (some kind of boot camp at the Pentagon—eeek, scary), the results of which will be made public in the coming months.