Benefits of Walking

[Dr. Sushanta Kumar Ghose]

one of the most powerful ways to maintain a healthy weight, keep your joints strong, and live longer is also one of the simplest, no matter your age. The health benefits of walking are endless, and experts agree by adding walking to your daily routine, you can greatly improve your physical and mental health.

It can help improve heart health, reduce stress, fight food cravings and boost self-esteem.

Benefits of walking
Even making a small increase in how often you walk every day can lead to some positive health advantages.

Reduces risk of heart disease
The benefits of walking for 30 minutes a day include decreasing your resting heart rate, lowering your blood pressure and LDL (your “bad” cholesterol), and strengthening your heart.

“Walking helps make your heart more efficient,” says Dr. Singh. “As you’re improving your fitness, your heart actually becomes more effective with each heart pump that it provides for that type of exercise.”

It’s been proven that regular walkers have fewer heart attacks and strokes, lower blood pressure and higher levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol) than non-exercisers. Walking can also improve blood sugars and either improve the management of diabetes or help prevent it altogether.

Reduces stress
If you’ve ever gone out for a walk after a stressful situation and come back calmer and more collected, you know firsthand how walking benefits you positively when it comes to coping with stressful events.

Our lives are full of stressful situations. We’re juggling multiple roles at home and work. And it can all feel overwhelming.

Walking can help. It gets your heart rate up, brings your stress level down and reduces your chances of developing further illnesses like stroke, broken heart syndrome or cardiomyopathy.

And studies confirm that walking benefits your mood, by releasing your body’s endorphins.

“You’ll be proud at the end of each walk by setting small goals to get moving and accomplishing them, all the while increasing your self-esteem,” encourages Dr. Singh.

Helps you lose weight
Walking is also one of the best exercises for losing weight — it’s relatively easy to do, easy on the joints, it’s free and you have to do it every day anyway.

To start walking for fitness, try to begin with a 20-minute walk every day.

“If that’s too much, start smaller,” Dr. Singh advises. “But do set a goal of building to 30 minutes a day, every day.”

Going on a brisk 30-minute walk can help you burn 200 calories per day. Once you’ve mastered that, take your time increasing your duration, frequency or walking intensity. Avoid increasing mileage and/or time more than 10% more any one day than your maximum the prior week to avoid any setbacks like a musculoskeletal injury.

Reduces blood sugar
Our blood sugar levels change throughout the day — ranging from high to low as our bodies try to manage the amount of insulin we need. Our goal is to try to keep those blood sugar levels consistent, which can help keep us from feeling thirsty and tired after we eat (hello, post-lunch crash.)

So, what can you do? If you just finished eating, try taking a short walk. Research shows that walking for just two to five minutes after a meal can lower your blood sugar.

“We tend to see better blood sugar management,” states Dr. Singh. “For people who have diabetes, they may notice that their blood sugars are more stable.”

Improves your immune system
Trying to avoid getting a cold or the flu? Walking can help support your immune system.

By increasing your blood flow, reducing stress and strengthening your body’s antibodies, you’re keeping your immune system strong for whenever it’s needed to fight any virus or bacteria.

Protects your joints
As you walk, you lubricate and strengthen your muscles and increase blood flow to your cartilage.

And this can be especially beneficial for people with arthritis, as walking is a low-impact way to exercise and it helps keep your joints flexible and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

Reduces cravings
Cravings, in general, are usually bad news for people trying to lose weight. Craved-for-foods tend to be calorie-dense, fatty or sugary, with chocolate topping that list.

But research shows that walking can curtail the hankering for sugar, both during the walk and for about 10 minutes afterward.

Research also suggests walking ultimately helps people lose weight not only by getting their heart and metabolism up, but also by curbing those cravings for sugary snacks, like the aforementioned chocolate.

By taking a short walk, the study found people are able to regulate their daily sugary treats intake — often by as much as half.

Reduces risk of cancer
Research shows that two and a half to five hours of moderate-intensity exercise per week — which includes walking — can help reduce your risk of certain cancers like colon, breast, endometrial, kidney, liver, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Improves sleep
Most of us aren’t getting enough sleep per night — it’s recommended that we get between seven and nine hours each night.