Today I want to talk about the third part of the equation.

Hi, I'm Dave. Welcome to Walking is Fitness, a daily 10-minute podcast designed to provide you

with a little added motivation to get out the door, take the walk, and even more importantly, I believe, to build a life-changing walking habit.

Today's 10-minute walk starts right after this.

Weather here in Myrtle Beach as I'm walking, still cooler than usual,

cooler than we've had for the week leading up to the last several days.

Certainly cooler than what is expected and probably even what is normal.

And the coolest temperatures are still to come.

I think tomorrow is going to be the coolest day yet.

And not in a groovy sort of way.

So I saw something the other day that grabbed my attention,

and I want to share this with you.

The World Health Organization reports that while the average U.S. life expectancy is 76.4 years,

the average healthy life expectancy, the years you're likely to live free of significant health problems is just 63.9 years. This equation has three components.

Component number one, the average US life expectancy, 76.4 years. On one hand, that's a little shocking, especially from where I stand,

because I'm about 10 years away from that. The idea that I only have 10 years of life left is a little shocking,

and candidly feels unreal. And a large part of life is a lot shocking and candidly feels unreal.

And a large part of that is family genetics.

My parents this year turned 91 and 88.

My grandparents, all four, live to either close to 90 or close to 100.

My father's dad made it to 98 and a half years old.

I think we were all shocked that he didn't reach 100.

...