How walking can improve your overall health and well-being strengthen your bones help you avoid diseases such as cancer and diabetes
Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health, just thirty minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance.
It can also reduce your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type two diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers. Unlike some other forms of exercise, walking is free and doesn’t require any special equipment or training. Physical activity does not have to be vigorous or done for long periods to improve your health. Walking is low impact, requires minimal equipment, can be done at any time of day and can be performed at your own pace. You can get out and walk without worrying about the risks associated with some more vigorous forms of exercise.
Walking is also a great form of physical activity for everyone no matter what age you are or if you haven’t exercised in a long time. There are strategies you can use to make walking an enjoyable and social part of your lifestyle. To get the health benefits, try to walk for at least thirty minutes as briskly as you can most days of the week. For a lot of people, there is little difference in the amount of energy used by walking a kilometre or running a kilometre, it’s just that walking takes longer. Plan to cover a set distance each day and monitor how long it takes you to walk this distance as your fitness improves, you will be able to walk a longer distance and use more energy.
Walking faster burns more kilojoules per hour than walking slowly, but this doesn’t mean you have to push yourself until you’re breathless. Instead, pace yourself so that you can still talk, this simple rule of thumb means that you walk safely within your target heart rate, which brings about health gains.
Our bodies tend to get used to physical activity, so continue to increase your intensity as you improve your fitness levels. You can increase the intensity of your walks by, walking up hills, walking with hand weights, increasing your walking speed gradually by including some quick walking and increasing the distance you walk quickly before returning to a moderate walking pace and walking for longer.
The best way to warm up is to start each walk at a leisurely pace to give your muscles time to warm up, and then pick up the speed. Afterwards, gently stretch your leg muscles – particularly your calves and front and back thighs, stretches should be held for about twenty seconds. If you feel any pain, ease off the stretch and don’t bounce or jolt, or you could overstretch muscle tissue and cause microscopic tears, which lead to muscle stiffness and tenderness.
It’s best to dress lightly when you do physical activity as too many layers can increase sweating and build up body temperature, making you feel uncomfortable during your walk.
A Fitbit or Apple watch will record the number of steps you take and your movement throughout the day and you can compare it to other days, this may motivate you to move more and to increase your steps daily. The recommended number of steps accumulated per day to achieve health benefits is ten thousand steps or more. When you are coming to the end of your walk, a gradual cool-down will also prevent muscular stiffness and injury. Walking is a low-cost and effective form of exercise, however, the wrong type of shoe or walking action can cause foot injuries to soft tissue. To avoid this make sure your shoes are comfortable, with appropriate heel and arch supports, take light and easy steps and make sure your heel touches down before your toes, and whenever possible, walk on grass rather than concrete to help absorb the impact. Here are some suggestions to help make regular walking a pleasurable form of physical activity, vary where you walk, walk the dog or your neighbour’s dog, walk with friends or join a walking club. The benefits of walking are huge and it’s just not the exercise it’s a great way to socialise for people who feel lonely, good for the mind, body and overall well-being.
Here are some of the advantages when you make walking part of your daily life, it will reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, the risk of stroke, high cholesterol levels and the risk of developing colon cancer and other types of cancers. Prevent or control type two diabetes, lower your blood pressure and reduce the chances of hip fractures and other issues by reducing the risk of falls. Strengthen your bones, thereby reducing your risk of osteoporosis, and increase energy by increasing blood circulation and oxygen supply to your body. It also burns calories to help you lose and maintain a healthy weight and will reduce your stress, feelings of depression and the likelihood of developing dementia. With all the benefits and pleasure you get from a simple walk, make sure to make it your daily routine and stop at your favourite coffee shop along the way to make it a social exercise.
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