Benefits of walking - an update for 2024
15 Major Benefits of Walking, According to Experts
Getting your daily steps in can do so much more than help you maintain weight loss
Prevention, March 27, 2024
https://www.prevention.com/fitness/a20485587/benefits-from-walking-every-day/
On the eve of Champaign-Urbana’s first Walk with a Doc, I stumbled upon this really nice article in Prevention that breaks down 15 benefits of walking. Take a look…
1. Improve your mood: Going for a walk is an easy fitness strategy that can you feel better, says Dr. Jampolis. In fact, research shows that just 10 minutes of walking can lift your spirits. Plus, the effect may be amplified even more if you take a stroll through some greenery.
2. Burn calories and maintain a healthy weight: “Daily walking increases metabolism by burning extra calories and by preventing muscle loss, which is particularly important as we get older,” says Ariel Iasevoli, a personal trainer in New York City.
3. Improve heart health: One of the major ways that walking can improve your heart health is by lowering your blood pressure. Some research shows that for every 1,000 daily steps you take, you could lower your systolic blood pressure by .45 points. That means if you clock in 10,000 daily steps, your systolic blood pressure is likely to be 2.25 points lower than someone else who walks only 5,000 daily steps. One of the most cited studies on walking and health, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that those who walked enough to meet physical activity guidelines had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular events (like a heart attack or stroke) compared with those who did not walk regularly. Another study found that especially for older adults, every 500 additional steps taken daily was associated with 14% lower risk of heart disease, stroke or heart failure.
4. Reduce your risk of chronic diseases: A 2022 study published in Nature Medicine has shown that walking can reduce your risk for a variety of chronic diseases. One study showed that walking 8,200 steps effectively reduced the risk of chronic conditions, including: obesity, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), major depressive disorder (MDD), type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. The same study also found that walking even more steps continues to increase walking’s benefits for nearly every health condition studied.
5. Reduce your stress: If you’re feeling frazzled or overwhelmed, walking can help lower your stress. Walking reduces the stress hormone cortisol, which helps you feel less stressed and more relaxed, says Joyce Shulman, co-founder and CEO of 99 Walks & Jetti Fitness and author of Walk Your Way to Better. A 2018 study published in Health Promotion Perspectives showed that just 10 minutes of walking lowers anxiety and depression and increases focus and creativity. Plus, research shows that taking your stroll outside can make a huge difference, too. A 2022 study published in Molecular Psychiatry found that a 60-minute walk in nature decreases activity in brain regions involved in stress processing.
6. Improve your sleep: A 2019 study from Sleep found that postmenopausal women who do light to moderate-intensity physical activity snooze better at night than those who are sedentary. Another recent study found healthy adults who walked daily had a significant positive impact on sleep quality and length of sleep. Walking also helps reduce pain and stress, which can cause sleep disturbances.
7. Boost your brainpower: The research here is quickly growing. In one study, brain scans of people who walked briskly for one hour three times a week showed the decision-making areas of their brains worked more efficiently than people who attended education seminars instead.
8. Alleviate joint pain: In fact, research shows that walking for at least 10 minutes a day—or about an hour every week—can stave off disability and arthritis pain in older adults. A 2019 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine followed 1,564 adults older than 49 with lower-body joint pain. Participants who walked for an hour each week were more likely to remain disability-free four years later.
9. Delay the onset of varicose veins
10. Stimulate your digestive system
11. Kickstart your immune system: Research shows that moderate-intensity exercise—and walking in particular—ramps up our immune system. It increases the number of immune cells that attack pathogens in our body, which may lower your risk of becoming seriously ill from infectious diseases.
12. Protect your bones: A 2022 study published in PLOS ONE found that long-term brisk walking is an efficient way to improve bone density. Specifically, taking brisk walks for 30 minutes per day 3 or more times per week is recommended to prevent bone loss in premenopausal women.
13. Enhance creativity: According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition, going for a walk can spark creativity. “Researchers administered creative-thinking tests to subjects while seated and while walking and found that the walkers thought more creatively than the sitters,” says Dr. Jampolis.
14. Make other goals seem more attainable: When you become a regular walker, you will have established a regular routine—and when you have a routine, you are more likely to continue with the activity and take on new healthy behaviors.
15. Live longer: That’s right, walking can seriously help you add years to your life, and it doesn’t take much to see results. In fact, one study found that people who did just 10 to 59 minutes of moderate exercise (like brisk walking) per week had an 18% lower risk of death during the study period compared to those who were inactive. Meanwhile, people who completed the recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise in at least 10-minute spurts had a 31% lower risk of death. Other research shows the faster you walk, the more your risk drops. The longer life benefit is believed to come from the cardiorespiratory workout that walking provides.
