Why Medical Researchers Recommend Walking Daily?

Most people have forgotten that you don’t need to spare a whopping time from your ultra busy schedule for exercising if you start walking more. Being a victim of this sedentary lifestyle,  medical studies say that an average person doesn’t even walk more than a kilometre each day. Whereas our ancestors used to walk for miles without getting exhausted and yet they enjoyed better health than us. Over the time, the comfortable lifestyle of people has caused a steep fall in natural deaths and a shooting rise in deaths causing from diseases.

Start taking the stairs, walk for short distances or make a practice of going for morning or evening walks as just 20 minute of brisk walking can reduce the risk of death by 30 percent. In fact, lack of exercise can double the risk of pre-mature deaths more than risk of dying from obesity and other diseases.

What is inactivity?

This is a particular category majority of people across the globe fall under. People in this category have a sitting job and they don’t indulge in strenuous physical activities and are basically habitual of consuming unhealthy foodstuffs. If you follow such a lifestyle, then you are at a greater risk of suffering from various kinds of life threatening diseases.

Why walking is good for you and how much do you need?

The first motivation you give yourself is by initiating walking. You burn around 90 to 120 calories by walking for just 20 minutes and you automatically shift yourself from the inactive category to moderately active category. You need to be determined about walking each day for at least 20 minutes and as you get accustomed to walking, increase the duration for up to 30 minutes. Ensure to have walking in your busy routine for at least 5 days a week and you will thereby assure protection to yourself from the risk of shortened life span.

Now that you know what medical experts are recommending, it becomes very important to understand why medical researchers recommend walking daily and why they emphasise that walking can keep you healthier for longer:

1. It Helps In Strengthening Your Heart

Walking is the best workout for a healthy heart. As you walk, your rate of heart beat and the blood pumping function gets a boost owing to which there is optimum blood circulation in the body. As per medical experts, walking daily for 20 to 30 minutes can lower the risk of high blood pressure by 27 percent.

In addition, walking is great for managing your body’s cholesterol levels. It is the best exercise to effectively lower the levels of bad cholesterol or LDL in the arteries while increasing the amount of HDL or good cholesterol. If you have undergone any heart surgery or have suffered from plaque accumulation in arteries, then walking is one among the best remedies for you to ensure smooth functioning of your heart.

2. It Helps In Losing Weight

If at all you are aiming to lose some extra pounds, then walking ensures optimum burning of calories. For men, the ideal calorie consumption in a day is recommended at 1800 to 2000 calories while for women, it ranges between 1200 to 1500 calories. But these recommended calories are for those people who have certain physical activities that ensure proper and timely burning of calories. Thereby simply walking for 20 minutes will help you in reducing around 90 to 120 calories. Gradually you can increase the walking duration and you will be able to burn more calories. Also walking increases muscle mass and the more muscle you have, the higher will be your metabolism rate. High metabolism rate implies faster burning of calories and an active digestive system.

3. It Lowers The Risk Of Diseases

Many researchers have found that walking helps in regularising the working of the internal body systems and helps in increasing the level of immunity along with metabolism rate. In addition, many medical journals have published that the habit of walking can drastically reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, asthma and even some cancers. Those people who actively walk everyday while taking care of their food and sleep have 35 percent reduced risk of suffering from these life threatening diseases in comparison to people who are less or not active.

Recommended: Why Everyday Physical Activity Is Important According To Harvard Research?

4. It Boosts The Vitamin D Levels In The Body

If you are a morning person, then you gain an additional benefit from walking daily. You tend to get exposed to vitamin D that is hardly available in the diet we consume and has to be grasped from the sun. Lately, many studies have revealed that increasing people are becoming vitamin D deficient and hence there has been a remarkable rise in the number of patients with bone problems. Vitamin D also plays a crucial role in building the immunity power.

While it is important to protect your skin against the harmful UV rays of the sun, but it is also important to have vitamin D for having strong bones and proper calcium absorption. Therefore, it is always suggested to enjoy walking during the early morning hours that provides higher quantities of vitamin D while not causing damage to your skin.

5. It Enhances Functioning Of The Brain

The more active you are, the better is the functioning of your brain. The more physical activity you have, the better is the health of your brain. Walking helps in keeping you active and has numerous psychological impacts on the brain in a way that your grasping, memorising and concentration abilities improve. A brain disease called dementia affects one among 14 people over the age of 65 years and one among 6 people over 80 years of age. So if you don’t want to experience memory loss or brain shrinkage in your old age, then start walking now.

6. It Reduces Risk Of Osteoporosis & Arthritis

Many scientific studies have found that it is very essential to walk for around 20 minutes each day to prevent suffering from osteoporosis and arthritis. While walking helps in reducing weight and driving in more energy to the body, it also aids in strengthening the bones and improving their density along with providing flexibility to joints. All these are very vital for great bone health.

7. It Fills You With Lots Of Energy

You may think that when you are burning calories and putting in extra efforts to walk for 20 minutes at a stretch, how could it possibly provide you with lots of energy? But the fact is true to the core. Walking improves the blood circulation in the body and ensures effective supply of oxygen to each and every part that helps in making you feel active and energetic. It helps in releasing muscle knots and makes your body feel flexible and light.

MORE FROM MOSTINSIDE

• What Changes You Can Expect When You Start Exercising?
• 10 Amazing Reasons To Get More Sunlight For Better Health
• 7 Things To Think About While Exercising