Benefits Of Walking - Why You Should Walk Your Way To Good Health!

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Benefits of walking actually outnumber the benefits that you derive from working out. Did you know that? Walking is the simplest workout you can ever do. Yet you can personalize it according to your needs. A Brisk walk or Power Walk for weight loss or Relaxing Walk for Chilling out; However, you want it because of the health benefits of walking 5 miles a day ranges from reducing weight gain to helping you to de-stress.

Long peaceful walk calms you down and allows you to think clearly for the rest of the day. Power walking mixed with planks, push-ups, lunges, and crunches helps you shed that last few pounds and trim your waist. All without an expensive gym membership. If that alone isn’t enough to kick you out to start walking, here are a few health benefits of walking for your inspiration. But before that, there are certain important things like posture and gear you need to take into consideration.

Before Walking Do You Do These

Choosing the right gear is very important. Your shoes should have proper arch support and thick, flexible soles.
Wear comfortable clothing depending on the weather and if you are walking at low visibility times, make sure to wear a reflective tape for visibility.
Choose the right path. The path should not be very uneven or filled with potholes. You might end up hurting yourself
Warm up before you walk. You can do warm-up exercises or just walk slowly for five to ten minutes.
Cool down after you finish your walking. Walk slowly for 5 minutes after your walk and stretch your muscles.

What Is Your Technique When Walking?

To reap your health benefits of walking you should be walking with proper technique.

Hold your head tall; looking forward without looking down.
Swing your hands-free, with a slight bend to your elbows. Your shoulder movement should not be forced but natural.
Tighten your stomach muscles lightly and your back is straight and not curved.
When you walk, in a smooth movement roll your feet from heel to toe.

Health Benefits Of Walking

1. Helps Maintain Your Weight

This is quite an obvious one. It helps you shave off inches off your body. Even if you don’t lose weight, the fat burn still happens. When you walk regularly, it alters the way your body responds to Insulin. When this happens, it can help to reduce belly fat. You can find your jeans getting looser by the day. Regular walking also boosts your metabolism which burns calories and preventing muscle loss. This is very important as we age. You don’t need to allow time for walking. You don’t need to sweat your heart out on a treadmill. Take an early morning walk to reap the benefits of walking 5 miles a day. Maybe just walk your way to school or work.

If you want to lose weight with walking, push yourself a little and increase the pace of your walking. You can burn 75 calories by just walking 2mph for 30 min. How easy is that?

2. Decrease Your Chance Of Getting Heart Disease

Working out regularly is very good for the health of your heart. It increases your heart rate up and lowers the risk of blood pressure as much as 11%. Walking the pace like you do in a grocery store is not going to be beneficial for your heart. If you want the cardiovascular benefits of walking, you will need to add brisk walking or maybe power walking to your day. Power walking benefits are much more than the regular walking that you might do every day.

Moreover, walking 5 miles a day is a Low-Impact Cardio and it is known to reduce the production of LDL Cholesterol which is the bad one and increases the HDL Cholesterol which is the good one. If you are walking enough to meet the guidelines, (30 min of walking, 5 days a week), you are slashing your risk of a heart attack by 30%.

3. Helps Regulate Your Blood Sugar

Did you know that taking time out to do a power walk 30 min every day, you have the chances to control your diabetes? To obtain the health benefits of walking, start with walking briskly 30 minutes a day and increase it to 60 min. Regular walking helps to improve your body’s response to insulin, there in helping to keep the blood sugar under control.

Add just 30 minutes of walking to your daily activity and enjoy the benefits of walking by keeping your blood sugar under control.

In addition, to beat the sluggish feeling a diabetic person can feel, they can walk 15 min every day after every meal. This is effective in managing the blood sugar levels. 45 minutes walking split into 15 minutes walking benefits the diabetics along with the usual 30 or 60 minutes walking.

4. Curbs Cancer

Walking benefits include prevention of cancer. Now, how about that! Walking regulates your hormones, enhances your metabolism and even boosts your immunity. Women’s health study by Harvard University mentions in their study that by walking you actually reduce your chance of certain types of cancer. Power walking benefits of walking for just 2 hours a week reduces your chances of Uterine cancer and Breast Cancer by 19%. And power walking benefits of walking 4 hours a week alleviates the chance of you getting cancer by a whopping 54%. Another study claims that the benefits of walking 5 miles a day and for 7 hours a week includes reducing breast cancer in women by 14%.

5. Boosts Your Mood

Research shows that walking benefits include a drastic improvement in your mood. It’s actually equal to the relaxation you feel when you have a glass of wine after a long day at work. If you don’t like to walk alone, you can make it social by joining a walking club in your neighbourhood. Regular walking alters your nervous system that you feel a tranquil in you as you go through the day. The usual anger and aversion you feel are reduced to a minimum. And when you walk in the early morning sun means your walking benefits include getting your daily dose of Vitamin D and the cure for winter blues.

Another study shows that walking benefits your decision-making capability. You can even take a walk for 10 minutes or so, before taking any major decisions. You can see yourself being positive through the day.

6. Strengthen Your Muscles

One of the issues we face in our older years is the varicose veins. Varicose veins are unsightly and also the leg pain you face with it is also terrible. One way to delay the onset is to include regular walking in your schedule. One of the benefits of walking 5 miles a day, is strengthening the secondary circulatory system. The secondary circulatory system delivers blood to the leg muscles and a healthy blood flow will strengthen the muscles in the leg. If you are predisposed to having varicose veins or spider veins, you might want to add walking to your schedule regularly.

7. Cognitive Functions

One of the first things we lose when we get older is our balance. We often lose our balance and fall. Uneven grounds are even more tricky to walk. The reason we lose is that we lose our sense of coordination. Among so many health benefits of walking, one that everyone snickers at is that it increases the size of the Hippocampus. The reason is that regular walking increases the blood flow to the brain. Walk regularly when you are young and able and reap the benefits of walking when you are older as it delays the cognitive decline.

8. Reduces Stress

Everyone has stress in their daily lives. How they handle stress differs from person to person. The benefits of walking also include stress handling. If you are a social person, you can make walking a social occasion by including your friends and forming a group. Also, Also, walking in the early morning at a natural setting will often work wonders. Also, if you are someone interested in fitness, you might want to get involved in power walking.

Power walking benefits your brain by increasing the blood flow to the hippocampus which is the center of emotion. It also releases a hormone called Endorphins. Endorphins are also called happy hormone. When you walk while stressed, it gives you a feeling of relaxation and your stress level will start to reduce.

9. Strengthens Memory

When you make walking regularly, you are not only taking yourself for a walk but your brain too. Walking along with increasing your blood flow to your legs and your body also boosts the blood flow to your brain. This increased blood flow increases the size of the Hippocampus which controls your memory and emotion. Older people should also include walking in their daily routine. Studies show that older people who walk regularly in a natural setting have a distinct reduction in brain fatigue.

The latest study shows that elders who regularly walk have an increase in the grey matter in the brain. Benefits of walking 5 miles a day include an increase in the grey matter which impacts memory, decision-making, emotions etc.

If walking seems too easy or uninspirational, you can always do power walking. Power walking means walking at a speed of 6-7 mph without running or jogging. It is almost at the speed of running but not running. When someone tells you walking is for puny people, you now have a list to validate your claim. The power walking benefits not only your body but also your emotional health and the effects are on a long-term basis.