The Health Benefits of Walking as Exercise
The many benefits of walking are known to us all. It’s a simple activity that offers a host of health benefits.
This low-impact aerobic exercise can do wonders for your health! It has the power to improve your health in more ways than one. Walking just 30 minutes a day for five days a week can improve and maintain not only your physical and mental health but also improve your emotional well-being and extend your lifespan!
If you don’t have the time or the dedication to hit the gym, you can just walk your way to fitness! Here’s why you should make walking for fitness a habit.
6 Amazing Health Benefits of Walking that Improve Your Quality of Life
Is walking good exercise? We’ll let you be the judge of that!
Helps Maintain Weight
Walking helps burn calories, which can help you lose the extra pounds and maintain your weight. A study published by the American Heart Association also found that walking briskly for an hour a day could counteract the effects of weight-promoting genes in half!
Although the efficacy of walking depends on your speed, the distance you cover, and the terrain you walk on. However, the intention is to be consistent. So, whether you walk for 20 minutes or an hour, walking regularly will have long-term benefits,
Strengthens the Joints
Walking plays a crucial role in reducing the development or progression of arthritis, a condition that causes swelling and tenderness in the joints.
A study evaluating the effectiveness of two arthritis programs found that light exercise helped increase endurance in just six weeks while decreasing pain and fatigue. This is because walking increases your range of motion, lubricates and strengthens the muscles that support the joints, and shifts the pressure from your joints (which cause arthritis-related pain) to your muscles.
Boosts Immune System Function
Walking amps up the body’s defense system and flushes out bacteria from your lungs and airways, thus helping reduce the risk of common illnesses. It also helps reduce your risk of chronic diseases, such as protecting you from developing certain cancers.
Moreover, walking is also found to create short-lived changes in antibodies and the movement of killer white blood cells in our system. It causes a temporary rise in temperature, which can cause these cells, also known as leukocytes, to flow through our bloodstream to fight infections and keep our immune system working at its best.
As noted by Thomas Frieden, former director of CDC, walking is “the closest thing we have to a wonder drug”.
Controls Your Blood Sugar Levels
When you walk at a fast pace, it can help balance out your blood sugar levels. This can also reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.
If you have diabetes, you could consider taking a post-meal walk. Dedicating even five minutes of your day to walking could reduce your blood sugar or insulin levels.
Improves Mood and Reduces Stress
Depression and anxiety are leading mental health concerns, and something as simple as walking can help you combat the two. This simple exercise stimulates blood circulation in the brain and influences the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to communicate with the limbic system — which dictates our motivation and mood.
But that’s not all!
Walking also pumps up your endorphins, which is a feel-good hormone, in the body. It interacts with other receptors in the brain to give you a “high,” resulting in reduced stress and improved mood.
Improves Heart Health
The benefits of walking every day for your heart health cannot be stressed enough.
Walking 150 minutes per week, or 30 minutes for five days a week, can give you cardiovascular benefits, such as lowering the risk of coronary heart disease by 19%. It also lowers your blood pressure, reduces coronary events and mortality, and helps maintain a healthy metabolism to fuel body functions.
You can reap even more benefits for your heart health by increasing the duration and distance of your physical exercise. Make sure you’re prepared with comfortable shoes, appropriate clothing, and good quality deodorants like the one by Nubian Heritage for long-lasting freshness, so your smelly armpits won’t be a reason for you to quit.
Extend Your Life by Walking!
Walking not only helps prevent your risk of diseases but also increases your quality of life. Even if you cannot commit to 20-30 minutes a day, walk anyway. Walk to run errands instead of driving over, or take a light stroll after your meals. Just be consistent with it.
Remember, every step counts!
