I'm 63. I make a point of walking 5Km (3 miles), every morning. I'm usually out the door, by 0530, and back in about 50 minutes.

I was running, but kept getting injured, so it switched to walking, several years ago.

I think keeping my mind occupied is just as important. It's entirely possible that the visual stimulus of her walks was as important as the exercise.

For myself, I make a point of constantly working on shipping software, and constantly learning new stuff. LLMs have been a godsend, for the latter. I had pretty much given up on trying to ask questions, because of the awful, sneering responses that I was getting, more and more.

Yeah I think you're right! And it's not just the visual stimulus either! She'd walk through pretty much the entire village, including a few homes that smack in the middle of nowhere. And she'd say hello to everyone she passed! Once in a while she'd stop and have chat...

After the dog died she only talked to people if they came into her home.

I think the social aspect of her walks was very important for her health too. Like you say, it's all about exercising that noggin',as well as the body!

I hear you with the running thing. I disliked walking, so I moved somewhere nice and got a dog and that helps tremendously.