New Health Stations at Logan

The new health stations at Logan Airport.

Airports are not the healthiest of places. Duh.

Most are packed with chain restaurants selling burgers and pizzas, bars stocked with booze (and yet the drinks always seem so lightly poured), fried foods, packaged food stands, and kiosks selling candy and fudge. But the next time you’re at Logan and actually have time before your flight (or during a layover), you have an opportunity to be healthy.

Visitors can now (and through the end of 2014) check their blood pressure, test their BMI, and even find out where the designated “walking paths” are around the airport. Steward Health Care and MassPort have teamed up to launch the “Strides for Health” campaign which created “health stations” that do all of the above tasks and more.

“While you are waiting for your flight, why not put that extra time to good use?” says Dr. Juliet Nimako, a primary care physician at Steward Health Care. “Experts agree that as little as 30 minutes of brisk walking several days a week can have a positive impact on your health.”

At all three domestic terminals at Logan Airport (terminals A,B, and C), passengers can pick up a “Strides for Health” map and walk between health stations and burn calories while they wait for their flight. Nimako says that just 30 minutes of walking can help reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels, maintain body weight, lower the risk of obesity, and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, breast cancer, colon cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Steward will be sponsoring the “Strides for Health” stations at Logan Airport until October, 2014.

An example of the new kiosks. Photo provided.