Walking is totally underrated!!
When people think about improving their health through exercise, many times they assume they have to purchase a gym membership or go running or take a fitness class. Some people can be intimated by the thought of those things and they end up doing nothing at all.
Approximately 2 million deaths per year are attributed to physical inactivity, according to the World Health Organization. Sedentary lifestyles can be attributed to countless health problems, including increased risk of:
- all-cause mortality
- cardiovascular diseases
- diabetes
- obesity
- colon cancer
- high blood pressure
- osteoporosis
- lipid disorders
- depression
- anxiety
You should consistently get 5000 steps per day, at a minimum. Your goal should be 10,000. Getting these daily steps in can help you fight off chronic illness. It can also help you lose weight. Studies have shown that this daily step count can lead to lower body weight, waist circumference, body fat percentage, and higher HDL levels.
I recommend using a fitness tracker to help monitor your steps and other helpful trackable health information.
According to Reuters, Researchers examined data on 1,297 participants from clinical trials that randomly assigned half of the people to track steps with pedometers over 12 weeks while the rest of them did no tracking at all. When they joined the trial, people took about 7,500 steps a day and got 90 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity in at least 10-minute bouts.
Three to four years later, people who used pedometers were getting roughly 30 more minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, the study found. Pedometer users were also 44% less likely to experience a fracture and 66% less likely to have a serious cardiovascular event like a heart attack or stroke.
I started using a Fibit in March and I rely on it now to check in on my daily step count as well as tracking my sleep. I encourage anyone who is concerned about their health or trying to improve their health, to wear one.
Burn Calories/Lose Weight
The average person burns about 100 calories per mile. The number of calories is not set in stone and is dependent upon several factors including the weight, distance and speed of the walker.
If you are actively trying to lose weight by walking it is important to practice interval walking. Interval walking is a form of exercise involving alternating intervals of fast and slow paced walking.
Livestrong suggests this 30-minute workout:
- 0 to 5 minutes: Warm up at a moderate pace.
- 5 to 7 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 7 to 8 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 8 to 10 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 10 to 11 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 11 to 13 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 13 to 14 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 14 to 16 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 16 to 17 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 17 to 19 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 19 to 20 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 20 to 22 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 22 to 23 minutes: Walk at a moderate pace.
- 23 to 25 minutes: Walk as fast as you can.
- 25 to 30 minutes: Cool down at a moderate pace.
Ease Joint Pain
Regular exercise can help ease joint pain and other RA symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “People who exercise have improved daily function, decreased depression and fatigue, reduced pain, and improved sleep,” says Hareth Madhoun, DO, a rheumatologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area.
Walking is a low-impact way to help lubricate your joints. Low-impact exercise increases blood flow to cartilage, which helps cartilage get the nutrients it needs to cushion and protect the ends of bones in your joints. As your joints are lubricated, you will experience a decrease in pain and stiffness and increase your range of motion.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, you should consider the following when you walk to help decrease joint pain.
When you walk, think about the FIT formula – Frequency (how often), Intensity (how fast) and Time (how long). When you walk or start any new physical activity, start at a low level and increase slowly over time. Trying to do too much too fast can lead to injuries that set you back instead of move you forward. When you’re ready to increase your activity, change just one part of the FIT formula at a time.
- Frequency: Go for a walk every day, if you can, but make sure you walk at least three to five times per week. If you’re just starting out and can only tolerate a five-minute walk, then start by walking just five minutes a day two or three days per week.
- Intensity: Aim for moderate intensity – covering a distance of two to three miles in an hour – but don’t worry if you can’t do that right out of the door. Build up to walking success. Your heart and breathing rate should be faster, but you should still be able carry on a conversation as you walk.
- Time: Shoot for 30 minutes to an hour a day as your ultimate goal. If you’re just starting out, even five-minute walks three times a day will help you build strong bones and muscles, be more limber, and have less pain. Gradually increase your time until you reach your goal.
Boost Energy
The market is flooded with sugary, bad for you, energy drinks. They can be convenient to grab when you are feeling sluggish. However, a much better and healthier option is to strap on your tennis shoes and go for a walk. Walking increases oxygen flow through the body. It can also increase levels of cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. Those are the hormones that help elevate energy levels.
A study from researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens found when people walked in a stairwell at low to moderate intensity for 10 minutes, they felt more energized than when they consumed 50mg caffeine, the amount in half a cup of coffee or slightly more than the amount in a can of soda. Other research shows walking for more than 20 minutes helps people feel more energized.
If you’re feeling tired or you’re in a slump in the middle of your day, go for a walk to feel more alert, rather than reaching for caffeine. It’s an ideal way to boost your energy levels, improve your mood and aid weight loss.
Try this workout for a quick energy boost.
Head for the Trees! 5+ Minutes
A dose of nature can boost your mood and energize you in just 5 minutes. If you exercise in a natural setting and go longer (a lunchtime stroll in a park or an all-day hike in the mountains), you can improve your memory and attention 20% more than you can by walking in an urban environment.
Reduce Risk of Diabetes
While it may be one of the most basic forms of exercise, walking is known to have a wide range of health benefits, including helping to reduce type 2 diabetes risk and improve blood sugar control in those diagnosed with the disorder.
Speaking at the British Science Festival in Birmingham, Dr Brown, from the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University, revealed that walking for just 30 minutes per day has incredible health benefits including the ability to reduce the chance of getting Type 2 diabetes. And for those who already have Type 2 diabetes, walking can help control it.
In a 2007 study, it was discovered that walking was strongly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and the speed was important – compared to those who walked at an “easy pace” (longer than 30 minutes to walk one mile), those who walked at a “normal” pace (20-30 minutes per mile) had a 14% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Try this walking workout to help reduce the risk or control Type 2 diabetes.
Walking Workout
- Get ready to walk: Prepare for your walk with a few moves to get your body ready. Stand up. Loosen up your shoulders and neck with a few shrugs and shoulder circles. Loosen up your legs and hips by marching in place for a few seconds.
- Adjust your posture: Posture is very important to being able to walk fluidly at a brisk pace. Take a moment to get into the right walking posture. Stand up straight, with your eyes forward and your chin parallel to the ground. Engage your core muscles by pulling in your stomach and tilting your hips slightly forward as you tuck in your rear. Now straighten up by pretending there is a string attached to the top of your head and, with feet flat on the ground, raise yourself up from your hips to the top of your head. Relax your shoulders with another couple of shrugs. Bend your arms. Now you are ready to walk.2
- Walk at an easy pace for three to five minutes: Use the beginning of your walk as a warmup to get your blood flowing to your muscles and to continue to tweak your walking posture. An easy pace is one where you could sing or carry on a full conversation without any heavier breathing.
- Speed up to a brisk pace for 20 to 25 minutes: Now now want to move into a brisk walking pace to achieve moderate exercise intensity that has the best health benefits. Move your arms faster in coordination with your steps to help pick up the pace. A brisk walking pace is one where you are breathing heavier but you can still speak in sentences. You want to aim for 50 percent to 70 percent of maximum heart rate.1 Take your exercise pulse to see if you are in the moderate-intensity zone.
- Cool down for one to three minutes: Finish your walk by walking at an easy pace.
Assists with Digestion
If you suffer from GI issues, you may want to consider taking a walk.
Research has found that walking helps speed up the time it takes food to move from the stomach into the small intestines. This could help improve satiety after eating. There’s also evidence that links this type of faster digestion with lower rates of heartburn and other reflux symptoms.
“Post-meal, brisk walks ideally should be treated at a conversing, not crushing, pace,” says Adam Feit, PhD, assistant director of performance nutrition with Precision Nutrition. His advice? Aim for between three and four miles per hour, or about 100 steps per minute. “As the speed of the walk increases, it pulls away circulation from the digestive system towards the working muscles to ensure energy demands are met, which could delay digestion,” he says.
According to Healthline, low impact activities are best when trying to aid digestion. If you haven’t exercised in a while, you can start with a brief walk around the block once a day and build from there. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your walk:
- Be aware of your posture. Keep your back straight, but not stiff.
- Let your arms swing freely.
- Step from heel to toe.
- Choose shoes with good arch support and thick, flexible soles.
- Set a schedule and plan your route.
- If it’s hard to keep motivated, invite someone to walk with you.
- If walking outdoors doesn’t work for you, try using a treadmill at home or the gym.
- If you miss a day, don’t stress out about it. Just start again tomorrow.
Slow the Aging Process
New scientific findings say walking is a powerful tool capable of slowing the aging process and even reversing it. Data published by the Mayo Clinic in the medical journal Cell Metabolism showed that aerobic exercise that included high-intensity interval training can reverse age-related impairment of the mitochondria – important cell structures that provide 90 percent of the energy needed to sustain life and organ function.
Among study participants aged 65 to 80, mitochondrial function improved by an incredible 70 percent. Sreekumaran Nair, the lead author of the study, said, “Based on everything we know, there’s no substitute for these exercise programs when it comes to delaying the aging process. These things we are seeing cannot be done by any medicine.”
Another study, in New Zealand, followed 1000 people born in the 1970’s, up to age 45. In this study, the researchers found that walking speed in your 40’s is an indicator of aging. “This study found that a slow walk is a problem sign decades before old age,” said Prof Terrie E Moffitt, lead author from King’s College London and Duke University in the US.
In general, the slower walkers tended to show signs of “accelerated aging” with their lungs, teeth and immune systems in worse shape than those who walked faster.
Lace up those walking shoes and set a goal for 150 minutes per week of physical activity. To reap the most benefits from your walk, interval training is the recommended method. Interval walking provides greater benefits than walking at a normal speed. In the vigorous zone, you should strive to reach 130 steps per minute.
If you live a very sedentary lifestyle and you feel overwhelmed by the thought of walking 150 minutes a week, start small. Here are some ideas.
- Park at the far end of the lot at the grocery store
- At work, visit a restroom on a different floor or in a different building
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Walk to your mailbox a few times a day
- Take a 10 minute walk
- As you feel comfortable, add 5 minutes to your walk until you reach 30 minutes
When you take small steps toward better health, you will gain confidence and endurance. You will also reap amazing health benefits!!
Contact your medical provider for a check-up or consultation before you begin your walking program if any of these apply to you:
- You have been sedentary for a year or more
- You don’t currently exercise and are over age 65
- You have been diagnosed with heart trouble
- Pregnant
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- You have chest pain, especially when exerting yourself.
- You often feel faint or have severe dizzy spells
- Other medical conditions