Walking is one of the most effective activities and has many health benefits. It is also an inexpensive sport and can be practiced anywhere even from inside the house. Walking does not require a private trainer or equipment either. Although it is a simple sport, it significantly enhances fitness and maintaining it has benefits that you can notice from the first week of practicing that sport. You will notice that through your normal daily activities you also walk around, for example shopping or moving between different places on foot.
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Your doctor must have advised you to walk daily while you follow a certain diet in order to help you gain or lose weight, but we are here to tell you that walking has a very big effect on the performance of your body systems and not just your weight loss. The benefit of walking is not only to improve the efficiency of your body systems but also your mood and mental health. Follow the lines of this article that will introduce you to the wonders of walking regularly daily and how you can benefit from it.
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Do you wish to protect your heart from various diseases? Walking can protect your heart from various heart diseases. People who regularly walk for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, were found to have a 19 percent lower risk of heart disease. You can increase this percentage when you increase the duration of your daily walks.
Not only that, but you'll notice lower blood pressure and reduce the level of bad cholesterol in your body. And don't forget that improving your body's fitness will also benefit your heart's efficiency.
Brisk walking also helps strengthen memory, support brain function and thus, prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Our blood levels change throughout the day in interaction with the meals we eat in terms of their composition and quantity as well. Your body works to regulate the insulin it releases to maintain your blood sugar level and prevent thirst and fatigue after eating different meals. When you walk for 15 minutes after meals, you reduce your blood sugar and your body's resistance to insulin is significantly reduced, and this is more effective than walking for a long time at the end of the day. This also helps you digest food better.
Walking helps protect the joints of the legs from multiple problems and keep the knees from roughness, and walking for half an hour a day helps the joints soften and blood supply to them well, which helps your feet to bear your body weight.
Walking helps maintain bone mass and reduces the risk of fractures especially for women after the age of 40. Walking also protects older people with arthritis from the risk of injuries occurring during their daily activities and reduces their arthritis pain. Walking significantly improves fitness and muscle strength that support joints.
During cold cycles, you feel the urge to sleep, your body is less active, and your illness lasts from a week to ten days. A study observed 1000 people with mild cold roles and exercised from 20 to 30 minutes a day and it was noted that the number of days of their illness was less than normal and their incidence of pneumonia decreased by 43%. Their body movement while walking helped to provide their bodies with oxygen well and their blood circulation was better. An improvement in their mood was also observed on the study sample.
In general, going out and exploring nature helps you relax, reduces your sense of stress, and improves the quality of your sleep during the night hours. Many recent studies confirm that being in open spaces and staying away from closed rooms has a good effect in maintaining your mental health. Walking in nature has been found to help combat repetitive thinking and negative thoughts such as giving up and a sense of failure.
A psychiatric clinic in Germany has practiced a walk-in-talk approach for therapy sessions. It has been observed that talking while walking in nature is less stressful as the therapist provokes next to the patient and while avoiding confrontation with the therapist in a closed office face-to-face it was found that patients respond better to talking. Walking in nature has also been found to significantly reduce depression, improve mood and promote positive emotions as well.
Besides improving mood and sleep quality, walking helps promote creative thinking. It happens by clearing the mind, purifying ideas and thus, increasing the creative energy of individuals. Therefore, walking is recommended for those who wish to develop problem-solving skills and creative thinking.
It is known to many that walking helps burn fat and get rid of calories -better-. Walking also helps reduce the constant appetite for eating. By eating a healthy diet and walking regularly. 30 minutes of brisk walking a day helps you burn calories daily. You can gradually increase the duration of your walk and increase your speed as well, so you will be able to burn more calories.
For your safety, we advise you to gradually practice walking, whether in duration or speed, and not to exaggerate walking in a way that may harm your muscles. Remember, stopping walking after losing weight will make you regain that weight faster. It is preferable to exercise regularly and eat healthily even after losing weight.
