The benefits of walking for your health might surprise you. Many people don’t think it’s a workout, but it is! And if you happen to be at the start of your health and wellness journey, it’s one of the simplest ways to start moving your body regularly.
If I had to suggest one exercise to begin with when starting to exercise, walking would be it. It’s simple, easy and free. And, it has an unbelievable number of benefits not only for our physical health but for our mental, emotional and relational health too.
Walking for Love
If you haven’t guessed already, I love walking. My partner, Phil, and I make time for two 30-minute walks together each day with our pup, Baylee. It’s quality time we look forward to each morning and night. And I genuinely don’t feel myself if I miss it.
Time spent together without distractions of TV, phones and life’s “to-do list” will do wonders for your love life.
Walking’s become one of our favourite things to do together. And without a doubt, it’s strengthened our relationship and increased our love for each other a lot!
How? Because it gives us the opportunity every day to talk to each other without interruptions and distractions. We have conversations about everything—how our days have been, our plans for the weekend, problems we’re having, worries we have etc.
Good communication is critical in a relationship, and our walk gives us a designated time for it every single day.
Walking for Health
You can benefit from walking whatever your fitness level, weight, age or budget. And it’s an exercise that doesn’t require much effort or energy to do. It’s also a great way to exercise if you often say “I’m just not into exercise!”.
Anyone can make walking part of their routine.
It’s easy to do, low impact and completely free. And it can be as easy or hard as you want. If you want to burn more calories, you simply walk faster, throw in some hills and run up some steps.
Whether you’re taking it at a leisurely pace or not—read on to learn all the benefits of walking. They might just convince you to make it a part of your personal (and love life 😉) routine.
The Surprising Benefits of Walking for Your Health
- It enhances your mood and reduces stress by giving you space to clear your head. It also helps to alleviate depression, anxiety and fatigue.
- It helps you maintain a healthy body weight and lose weight if you want to. If you walk for 30 minutes a day, you could burn an extra 100 to 300 calories. That’s 30,000 calories a year—the equivalent of running ten marathons!
- It tones your legs and makes your bones, joints and muscles stronger.
- It improves cardiovascular fitness, reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke, and can even ward off cognitive decline.
- It increases longevity—with research showing walking an hour a day could reduce your mortality by 20%.
- It gives you an energy boost due to the increased oxygen flow through your body.
- It enhances the quality of your sleep and gives your immune system a boost.
- It reduces symptoms of social withdrawal (where you avoid people and activities you enjoy and/or want to be by yourself most of the time). And, improves your social wellbeing and relationships—increasing your feelings of connection when shared with friends or family.
- It improves creative thinking. So, if you’re struggling with a problem, go on a 15-minute walk and see if it helps you find a solution.
Now you know all the great benefits of walking regularly for your health, here are a few tips to help you fit more walking into your life.
How to Fit More Walking into Your Life
- Go on a 10 to 30-minute walk before or after breakfast every day. It’s a great way to wake up, and no matter what else happens during your day, you can be happy knowing you got your exercise in.
- Take your lunch break outside and go for a 10 to 30-minute stroll. If it’s safe to do so, you could also combine your walk with some ‘me-time’ by listening to an audiobook, podcast or music.
- Organise a weekly walking date with friends or family, either one to one or as a group.
- Find the adventurer in you and explore some new walks at the weekend—your dog will love you for it! Why not take a picnic and make a day of it?
- When you’re somewhere new—on holiday, on a city break, or travelling for work—take some time to explore where you are on foot.
- Have a ‘walk & talk’ meeting with your work colleagues—if you’re trying to solve a problem, this can be a fantastic way to generate some ideas.
- Replace 30 minutes you spend watching TV or on social media with a walk. We often say we don’t have time to fit exercise into our days, but if you look hard enough, you’ll find a few times in your day where you could replace time on your phone with a walk.
There are so many benefits of walking. It’s such a simple, convenient and cheap way to enhance your health and wellbeing. So, what’s stopping you from giving this simple form of exercise a go? Why not try it for a week or two and see what it does for you?
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(Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash)
