15 Health Benefits of Walking Every Day
March brings us “Walk All Over Cancer “a fundraising
and activity challenge that occurs annually in aid of the y Cancer Research UK.
Participants are challenged to a sponsored walk of 10,000 steps every day
during the month, and all proceeds from the fundraising are donated to the
charity.
So why should we walk every day?
There are dozens of reasons how walking every
day can help you improve your lifestyle, but here’s a list of the 15 major
benefits to every day walking.
1. Increase Your Lifespan
Staying healthy is a crucial part to living a
long and happy life, but you don’t need to be running marathons into your
seventies to reap the benefits of staying active. A new study has shown that
frequent walking can add up to 7.2 years onto the life of an individual.
According to the study, the amount of walking
the individual does will influence the number of years added to the
individual’s life. Even just 75 minutes a week, less than 11 minutes of walking
a day, can add almost 2 years onto an individual's life.
For most people, getting 20 minutes of walking
is easy. Taking a pet for a walk or just strolling around the park for some
relaxation is a great way to get the exercise you need to live longer.
2. Manage Your Weight
You don't need to go on extreme diets or
exercise rigorously to begin losing weight. Just walking can be enough to see a
few pounds drop away. When you walk for extended periods of time, you can
actually find that walking helps jump start your weight loss program and may
even help you walk off an entire pants size in just a few weeks.
If you're looking to use walking to help you
lose weight, you may need to engage in a stronger program than just walking
from Point A to Point B. Adding interval walking, keeping a certain pace, and
walking with exercise bands are all great ways to help promote weight loss as
you walk.
3. Burns Fat
When we're looking to lose weight or just feel
better in our own skin, burning fat is one of the biggest priorities we may
have. Many of us who suffer with excess body fat got that way because of a lack
of exercise and movement. Luckily, it isn't difficult to begin losing weight;
it just takes a few days of brisk walking.
While walking can help you to lose excess fat,
you probably aren't going to get the body of your dreams from walking alone.
That being said, brisk walking can help you prevent belly fat from growing or
from gaining fat.
4. Helps
Overweight People Get into Shape
Frequent walking is a great exercise for
anyone looking to jump start a weight loss plan or workout regimen,
particularly those who are currently overweight.
Walking is an easy way for individuals who are
overweight to get the movement and exercise they need. As walking gets easier,
they can begin jogging or running to further promote weight loss and getting in
shape.
5. Reduces Stress
Walking can actually reduce stress in a number
of ways, including setting your mind into a meditative state, boost endorphins,
and give you more energy. The stress-reducing benefits of walking increase even
more if you walk outside or bring a friend along.
When you walk, you are getting exercise while
still taking the time to appreciate your surroundings, which can allow you to
forget about your stresses and worries, catch up with a friend in a
non-stressful environment, and get the benefits of a good exercise.
6. Reduces Dementia
The way that walking helps manage stress is
very similar to the way it can help prevent dementia. A recent study showed
that just a 20 minute walk a day actually reduced the susceptibility to
dementia by 40%. Researchers on the study believe that walking can reduce the risk
of dementia by opening up the window of the mind. Walking keeps the brain
stress-free, releases endorphins, and allows the blood to flow more freely and
fluidly through the brain.
The best way walking can reduce the risk of
dementia is through preventative measures, but it can also reduce some of the
symptoms if patients of dementia begin walking regularly.
7. Easy on the Joints
Walking has a very low impact on the joints,
so it is a great form of exercise for individuals with problems or pain in their
joints. Walking is also a great exercise for individuals with joint pain
because it is low cost and can be done anywhere, unlike other forms of exercise
that may require a certain location, like a pool, or special equipment.
Additionally, walking is also one of the top low-impact exercises that can help
you lose weight and burn calories.
Walking can also be a great way for athletes
who have been injured to continue getting exercise they need. As something that
is easy on the joints, going for frequent walks can allow them to stay mobile
while they are recovering from their injury without needing to worry about
compromising their condition.
8. Lowers Blood Pressure
Exercise in general can help you to keep your
blood pressure at normal, lower rates. Luckily, walking is included in that
spectrum and you don't even need to walk for long distance.
If you are having trouble finding or making
the time to get an adequate exercise in, walking for just three separate times
a day can help you keep your blood pressure low.
Taking a short, brisk walk in the morning,
mid-day, and in the evening can be just as beneficial as getting 30 minutes of
intense exercise when it comes to your blood pressure.
One of the health benefits of walking daily is
that it can help you to keep your blood pressure at normal. Walking is an
exercise that can help you to keep your blood pressure at normal, lower rates.
Having high blood pressure can be extremely
damaging to the body and the heart and can lead to serious health conditions
like stroke or heart disease.
Those who have a family history of such
diseases or high blood pressure should seriously consider adding a walking
routine into their daily lives and habits.
9. Strengthens Your Heart
Your heart health is incredibly important to
your overall health, which means you need to pay attention to all diseases and
illness that can harm your heart.
Luckily, frequent walks can keep many of those
diseases and conditions at bay, including high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, and diabetes. Frequent walking is one of the best things you can
do for your heart and preventing heart disease from developing.
Getting the recommended 20 minutes a day is a
great start for ensuring your heart stays healthy and disease-free.
10. Strengthens Your Bones and Reduces Your
Risk of Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a serious condition that
causes the bones to weaken and become brittle. While there is no cure for
osteoporosis, there are a number of things you can do to strengthen your bones,
including walking.
Walking is considered a weight-bearing
exercise, which means it puts weight on the bones. When doing a weight-bearing
exercise, you're fighting against gravity to put pressure on the bones, which
forces the bones to work more and gain strength.
Staying still can be very harmful if you have
osteoporosis, but it can also be difficult to find exercises that are not too
risky for the condition. This makes walking one of the best exercises for
individuals with osteoporosis.
As already mentioned, walking is easy on the
joints, so while individuals with osteoporosis do not need to worry about
further damaging their bones, they can still burn calories and get the exercise
everyone needs.
11. Reduces Depression and Improves Your Mood
As we already pointed out, walking can reduce
your stress level. Having a high level of stress can cause you to be irritable
and may even result in mental conditions like depression.
In a recent study, researchers looked at how
walking effected those suffering from depression. By having some of the group
walk for 25 minutes in different areas of a city, they examined how walking in
certain environments influenced the individual's moods.
According to the study, those who spent their
time walking in green areas had better moods and felt more engaged when they
left their walking environment.
Among the benefits of walking for exercise is
that walking in green areas had better moods. Whether you're suffering from
depression or just need to clear your head, taking about a half hour walk
through a park can get you feeling better.
This suggests that frequent walking in green,
natural areas can reduce feelings of depression and make you feel happier.
Whether you're suffering from depression or
just need to clear your head, taking about a half hour walk through a park can
get you feeling better.
12. Boosts Your Memory
When we are physically fit and take the time
to take care of our bodies, we usually experience higher levels of cognitive
function. This means we can think more clearly, have an easier time remembering
things, and are less likely to experience things like dementia when we grow
older.
In a recent study that looked at women, their
physical activity, and their level of cognitive decline as they aged, it found
that the more physical an individual is, the less likely they are to experience
high levels of mental decline.
By completing the 20 minutes of walking
suggested each day, we can improve our memory and ward off cognitive diseases
that can drastically decrease our quality of living.
13. Improves Your Sleep
There are a number of ways that walking can
help you to improve your sleep. Exercise in general helps our body deal with
stress, work off excess energy, and better prepare for sleep.
Walking is a great way to deal with our
stresses and help to manage our moods, which can frequently result in us
staying up all night worrying about things like relationships, work, or
finances.
Frequent walking can help individuals who have
trouble sleeping both by helping them fall asleep faster and stay asleep
longer.
In a study with chronic insomnia sufferers,
which includes individuals who cannot fall asleep easily as well as individuals
who have trouble staying asleep through the night, they found that a
moderate-intensity exercise helped reduce the symptoms associated with chronic
insomnia. That same study found that other forms of exercise, like running or
lifting weights, did not help individuals sleep.
14. Tones Up Your Legs, Butt, and Stomach
Did you know it can also help you tone up?
When you switch up your walking routine by adding new elements and locations,
you can start to see the benefits you may have only believed came with intense
workout plans.
There are number of things you can do to tone
your legs, butt, and stomach as you walk. One of the biggest suggestions is
walking up hill, which can engage many muscles in your body and allow you to
see results.
If you don't have hills to walk up, find a
place that requires you to walk up stairs, which can provide a similar effect.
Other ways to increase your muscle movement and engagement when walking is to
tighten your muscles as you walk. This gives them a similar experience to being
naturally engaged; only they are experiencing manual engagement, causing them
to work hard consistently.
Additional ways to tone up from walking
include picking up your speed. If you're looking to get more benefit from your
walking, consider walking faster or for longer periods of time. It is
recommended to walk somewhere that you enjoy the scenery, which can increase
the amount of time you're willing to walk.
15. Boosts Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D is crucial to our health and
happiness, and the best way to get enough of the necessary vitamin is through
spending time in the sun.
Being deficient in Vitamin D can lead to an
increase of developing cardiovascular disease, and cause asthma in children,
and may even cause cancer. It is also known to cause things like bone pain and
muscle weakness.
Taking frequent walks outside, particularly in
the middle of the day when the sun is at its brightest, can boost your levels
of Vitamin D and get you feeling better. Mid-day walking is also crucial in the
winter, when the days are shorter and it can be harder for individuals to get
the amount of time in the sun that they need.
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