12 Benefits of Walking
What’s not to like about walking? It’s free. It’s easy to
do, and it’s easy on the joints. And there’s no question that walking is
good for you. A University of Tennessee study found that women who
walked had less body fat than those who didn’t walk. It also lowers the
risk of blood clots, since the calf acts as a venous pump, contracting
and pumping blood from the feet and legs back to the heart, reducing the
load on the heart. In addition to being an easy aerobic exercise,
walking is good for you in many other ways.
1. Improve Circulation
Walking wards
off heart disease, brings up the heart rate, lowers blood pressure and
strengthens the heart. Post-menopausal women who walk just one to two
miles a day can lower their blood pressure by nearly 11 points in 24
weeks. Women who walk 30 minutes a day can reduce their risk of stroke
by 20%, and by 40% when they stepped up the pace, according to
researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
2. Shore Up Your Bones
Walking can
stop the loss of bone mass for those with osteoporosis, according to
Michael A. Schwartz, MD, of Plancher Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
in New York. In fact, one study of post-menopausal women found that 30
minutes of walking each day reduced their risk of hip fractures by 40%.
3. Enjoy a Longer Life
Research finds
that people who exercise regularly in their fifties and sixties are 35%
less likely to die over the next eight years than their non-walking
counterparts. That number shoots up to 45% less likely for those who
have underlying health conditions.
4. Lighten Your Mood
Walking
releases natural painkilling endorphins to the body – one of the
emotional benefits of exercise. A California State University, Long
Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the
better their moods were.
5. Lose Weight
A brisk 30-minute walk burns 200 calories. Over time, calories burned can lead to pounds dropped.
6. Strengthen Muscles
Walking tones
your leg and abdominal muscles – and even arm muscles if you pump them
as you walk. This increases your range of motion, shifting the pressure
and weight from your joints to your muscles.
7. Improve Sleep
Studies found
that women, ages 50 to 75, who took one-hour morning walks, were more
likely to relieve insomnia than women who didn’t walk
8. Support Your Joints
The majority of
joint cartilage has no direct blood supply. It gets its nutrition from
joint fluid that circulates as we move. Movement and compression from
walking “squishes” the cartilage, bringing oxygen and nutrients into
the area.
9. Improve Your Breath
When walking,
your breathing rate increases, causing oxygen to travel faster through
bloodstream, helping to eliminate waste products and improve your energy
level and the ability to heal.
10. Slow Down Mental Decline
A study of
6,000 women, ages 65 and older, performed by researchers at the
University of California, San Francisco, found that age-related memory
decline was lower in those who walked more. The women walking 2.5 miles
per day had a 17% decline in memory, as opposed to a 25% decline in
women who walked less than a half-mile per week.
11. Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
A study from
the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville found that
men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a
mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
than those who walked less.
12. Do More for Longer
Aerobic walking
and resistance exercise programs may reduce the incidence of disability
in the activities of daily living for people who are older than 65 and
have symptomatic OA, a study published in the Journal of Clinical
Outcomes Management found.
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