Everyone senses that walking is good for your health, but when you read these 16 benefits of walking, you will be perplexed by how important a little daily exercise can be to your life. So grab your shoes and go for a walk !!!
What benefits do you get from walking?
The benefits of walking are more than you can imagine:
1. Decrease the risk of being hypertensive.
In patients with hypertension, it reduces blood pressure values.
2. Produces favorable effects on cholesterol.
Walking regularly can help lower LDL cholesterol by helping you lose weight and reducing your stress.
3. Prevents the onset of diabetes.
People who are not physically active are more likely to have diabetes because they do not burn the sugar they eat. For this reason, walking regularly will make your body process this substance faster, and thus prevent suffering from this disease.
4. Improve your sex life.
Sex and exercise go hand in hand. In a study of women between the ages of 45 and 55, those who exercised, including walking, reported not only more sexual desire but also greater sexual satisfaction.
5. Increases Vitamin D levels.
Walking in daylight increases the body’s levels of vitamin D – a nutrient that is difficult to obtain from food, but can be synthesized through exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D plays a huge role in many ways, from bone health to immune system health. While it is true that protecting yourself from the sun’s rays is important, experts agree that exposing your skin to the sun, frequently but without burning, will help produce enough vitamin D.
6. Helps to lose weight.
Walking 40-45 minutes at a single time, we will begin to burn the deposited fat 20-25 minutes after starting the walk. Walking at a moderate pace for 30 – 60 minutes not only burns stored fat but also builds muscles that increase your metabolism.
A study by the London School of Economics ensures that the benefits of walking increase in the case of women over 50 years of age.
7. Walking prevents fatness and cellulite growth.
A brisk, short walk several times a day has the same effect as an aerobic gym session in maintaining body weight by balancing the metabolism.
8. Helps take less healing.
By just walking for an hour, people with depression can improve their mood. Walking half an hour reduces negative thoughts, nagging, pain, and diligence. Other studies have shown that exercise favors the results of antidepressant medications.
9. Improves circulation.
Physique exercises where we work our lower extremities will develop the convention of our body. In this way, you can prevent the appearance of varicose veins and keep all the organs of your body in good condition.
10. Tones legs, stern, and abs.
A good walk can help harden and shape the legs, giving definition to the calves, quads, and hamstrings and lifting the glutes. Now, if you really pay attention to posture while walking, you can also tone your abs and gradually reduce your waistline.
11. Walking is good for your bones.
By walking daily, we are stimulating and strengthening the bones, increasing bone density.
12. Helps fight breast cancer.
Women who walk regularly after being diagnosed with breast cancer have a 45% greater chance of survival than those who are inactive, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The Yale University researchers who led the study also found that those who exercised during the year before being diagnosed had a 30 percent greater chance of survival.
13. Significantly reduces the risk of developing colon cancer by 20%.
This is because walking helps speed up digestion by preventing the accumulation of semi-digested food and fecal matter that can cause inflammation. In addition, by improving the irrigation of all the body’s organs, the body’s defense system works much better.
14. Strengthens the heart.
Walking for at least 30 minutes a day reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke by up to 27%.
15. Improve stress.
It is normal that after an intense day at work, our mood is bad or that we have a lot of tension. A walk on foot is the solution for this, as it relaxes, clears the mind, reduces stress, and even makes us cure insomnia because it is a more natural exercise, in which not much energy should be delivered.
16. Walking is good for your brain.
Cognitive function is improved with a daily walk. Especially the elderly reduce the risk of complications in the cerebral vessels reducing the chances of senile dementia among other diseases. In general, it improves concentration and reduces the possibility of memory problems in the future.
Remember to always consult with a professional or your doctor before changing any routine of your daily life.
17. Improves mood
Constantly walking modifies the nervous system that will help, in turn, reduce anger and hostility, according to Melina B. Jampolis, doctor and author of The Doctor on Demand Diet.
18. Improve sleep
Like other aerobic exercises, walking improves the quality of sleep and extends it throughout the night.
Sleep scientists note that regular walking promotes the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, reduces pain and stress.
19. Boosts immunity
Research from Arthritis Research & Therapy notes that high-intensity interval walking improves immune function in older adults with rheumatoid arthritis, while another study from Chronic Respiratory Disease says walking helps patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease reduce their risk of mortality, improves symptoms, and reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
20. Helps burn calories and lose weight
Among the many benefits, weight loss is perhaps the most popular of all. Calorie loss depends on the distance you travel and the intensity with which you do it. Your walks include different routes, hills, parks, trails, challenge yourself to change your times and distances. Try to do at least 10 thousand steps a day.
21. Delays the appearance of varicose veins
According to specialists from the New York City Vein Treatment Center, walking delays the appearance of varicose veins and reduces their inflammation if they have already appeared. It also strengthens the secondary circulatory system, preserves leg muscle, and increases healthy blood flow.
22. Helps develop better creativity
A study published in 2014 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition suggest that walking sparks creativity after reviewing the creative thinking of two groups of volunteers, one who kept solving problems sitting down and the other who valued them during their walks.
23. Relieves joint pain
Harvard cites several studies that found that walking relieves joint pain, mainly in the knees and hips. Walking 9 kilometers per week prevents the development of arthritis and osteoarthritis.
24. Reduces the risk of chronic disease
The American Diabetes Association says that regular walking reduces blood sugar levels and the risk of developing diabetes.
For their part, scientific researchers from The New England Journal of Medicine discovered that going for a walk reduces the risk of strokes by up to 20 and 40 percent.
24. Promotes better digestion
Morning walks improve bowel movements as the movement puts the core and abdominal muscles to work, boosting the work of the digestive system.
Now you know, walking more can lead to a healthier and happier life.
Walk to work or the mall, if it’s too far, and try to park farther away from the door. After lunch, go for a walk in the morning before starting your routine or in the afternoon after finishing your work.
