With so much attention being focused on the over-prescription of drugs — from opioids (around 32 percent of prescriptions are used inappropriately) to antibiotics (at least 30 percent are unnecessary, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) — it's nice to find one prescription that simply cannot be overdone. In fact, upping your dosage would almost certainly be good for you.

That prescription: walking.

A recent Canadian study of 364 patients (66 percent of the volunteers had Type 2 diabetes, and 90 percent had hypertension) uncovered the power of getting an actual written prescription for walking.

Seventy-four doctors wrote out the instructions to their patients: Get a pedometer and increase how much you usually walk by 3,000 steps a day.

Lo and behold, those folks stepped up their daily walking by 20 percent and were rewarded with improved blood sugar levels, lowered insulin resistance, and reduced hypertension.

In an Australian study, people older than 55 who put in an extra 4,300 steps a day saw a 30 percent lower need for hospital care. And at the Cleveland Clinic, post-heart attack cardio rehab puts walking at the top of the to-do list.

So ask your doc for a walking prescription; get a pedometer (your smartphone has one); set a monthly steps-per-day-goal that increases over time.

Make sure you have good walking shoes, and enlist a walking buddy.

You're aiming for 10,000 total steps a day, or the equivalent.