HealthWatch: Stress Bad For Gut, Walking Can Help You Live Longer

BOSTON (CBS) - There's growing evidence that your gut health is closely tied to your overall health. In fact, bacteria and other organisms that live in your gut may affect your weight, your immune system, even your risk of disease.

Now a new study finds that stress can be as bad for your gut as junk food.

Researchers found that mice who were exposed to stress had gut bacteria that resembled those of mice fed a high-fat diet, but only in female mice.

We all get stressed from time to time, some more than others, and this is more evidence that stress doesn't just affect our psychological health, but that it can have real physical consequences as well.

Interestingly, the changes in the gut were only seen in the female mice, not the male mice, which means that there may be a gender difference in how our guts respond to stress.

Walking Your Way To A Longer Life

A new study looking at almost 140,000 older adults found that less than two hours a week of walking may reduce the risk of death. Two and a half to five hours a week of walking could reduce mortality even more, by up to 20%.

Benefits were seen from all causes of death but most notably from lung disease, heart disease, and cancer.

It is generally recommended that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, but only one half of American adults achieve this.

This suggests that if you can just get out and walk for up to two hours a week, you're going to improve your health.

Some say walking is the "perfect exercise" because it's free, doesn't require special equipment or training and can be done at any age.