Living (and loving) Life)
If you are not a big fan of going to the gym, there is no need to worry. The simple act of walking, always a far gentler alternative, is a great way of getting all the exercise and fresh air you need to keep you in good health. Indeed, walking is good for us all. Here are six reasons why:
1 – Get the day off to a great start
There is, perhaps, nothing better to prepare yourself for the hard day ahead than taking a brisk morning stroll. Indeed, it is certainly far better than sitting in a traffic jam or cramming yourself onto a busy bus. Not only will walking before work suitably wake you up but it will also relieve any of the stress you may have from a restless night.
2 – The health benefits
Walking, in fact, is a gentle form of aerobic exercise and that’s good for your lungs and heart. Moreover, walking won’t put undue pressure on your joints like running and jogging tends to do. It will also help to significantly develop better muscle tone and, as we shall see, can also be great for reducing excess body fat.
3 – Losing weight
It is estimated that walking can burn anything up to 100 calories for every mile covered. This, however, will naturally depend to a certain extent on both the pace you keep and your current weight and age. For example, should you keep to a steady 3.5 mph, you should lose up to twice the amount of calories as pounds of body weight. So, to assess how many calories you are burning per mile, take the amount of calories and divide it by 3.5.
4 – Prolonging life
Experts insist that just 30 minutes of walking each day can lengthen your life by up to 1.3 years. In addition, should you stay clear of any cardiovascular disease you can add a further 1.1 years. Furthermore, if you choose to raise your levels a touch, by increasing the pace and the length of the walk, you could effectively prolong your life for up to 3.7 years (plus 3.3 years more without cardiovascular disease).
5 – Keeping disease at bay
Walking will reduce your chances of contracting a number of other diseases aside from the cardiovascular class. Here we can include both cancer and diabetes, whilst walking can also reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis due to the fact that it can help to increase bone density. For a rough estimate, walking between 30 minutes and one hour a day can reduce breast cancer risk by 20%, strokes and diabetes by 50% and heart disease between 30% and 40%.
6 – Reducing stress and tension
Finally, walking can be a great way to relieve stress. Walking tends to have the effect of lowering your blood pressure, which is the main cause of stress. This effect will also have a significant impact on your mood, elevating any problems with both anxiety and depression. In addition, walking is good for recovering from illness.
Walking then, as nuffieldhealthcareers.com, among others, will tell you, is a fun, sociable and healthy activity for all the reasons above.
It is recommended that you try to cover some 10,000 steps per day, so purchase a pedometer to ensure you are keeping yourself in good shape and getting all the benefits.
About the author: Zoe is a fitness blogger who is currently writing on behalf of Nuffield Health Careers.
Photo credit: Mee Lin Woon