Everyone tries to incorporate lifting, pilates, or hiit workouts into their workout routine. Walking often gets pushed to the side when it comes to working out. Walking is such an easy way to get your heart racing, but in a low impact way. The beauty of walking is that you can pair it with another type of workout because it’s low impact. Read more to understand why walking could be the best form of exercise for you!
Eases Joint Pain
Walking is low impact which means that it gets your heart rate up while minimizing stress on your body. A majority of joint cartilage does not get any direct blood supply. When walking, your joint cartilage is lightly compressed which brings oxygen and nutrients to those areas. This keeps your joint cartilage healthy and more mobile. If you stay inactive for long periods of time, your joints usually hurt more. There’s a correlation between being inactive and your body aching more and being lightly active and your body aching a little less. When you get active, your body will thank you overtime. Your joints will slowly hurt less and allow you to increase activity. Your muscles are also strengthened from walking. This will result in feeling stronger and being able to do more activity or do regular tasks with less pain.
Weight Loss
Walking results in calories burnt, which directly correlates to weight loss. To lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit, which means eating less calories than you burn in a day. Don’t forget that you burn calories everyday without even trying! Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) includes your physical activity along with breathing, digestion, brain functions, and much more. There’s a calculator that can estimate your TDEE, but remember that it’s only an estimate and not exactly what you burn in a day. A brisk 30 minute walk burns around 200 calories. If you walk at a slower pace, then you can walk longer than 30 minutes, and if you walk faster than you can walk a little less. The wonderful thing about walking is that it’s super adaptable to your lifestyle. I walk to my classes on campus to fit my walks in. This works with my schedule because I am already going to these places, I just leave a bit earlier so I can walk instead of taking the bus. If you have a lunch break, then utilize that time to go on a nice walk. It can help you wake up and lessen brain fog. Whatever time you have in your day, use it for a walk to wake up your whole body. Walking can help you reach your goals of weight loss depending on how much you walk in a week. Start small at first and try to walk 3 miles a week and then gauge how difficult it is and if you can walk more or have to walk a little less. Find time to put walking into your lifestyle and see how it changes your mind and body!
Boosts Immune System
Walking can help your body ward off sickness. Walking increases your blood flow which helps strengthen antibodies, reduce inflammation, and reduce stress. Stress is a huge trigger that reduces your immune system. Most people don’t want to accept that stress affects them negatively because sometimes their job is the largest stress in their lives. There are many ways to help reduce this stress to result in a stronger immune system. Walking has some of the best benefits to reduce stress. Working out helps provide positive chemicals to your brain, but depending on what type of exercise you do you could be putting extra stress on your body. Sometimes what you need is an intense hiit workout to sweat out all your stress, but if you’re overstimulated this is not what you need. Walking is a low impact workout as I mentioned above, so it won’t put as much stress on your body. This means you can go on a quick walk to reduce stress and without adding physical stress on your body or excess sweat. There are a ton of studies that show the relation to walking and less sick days have a positive correlation. For example, people who walk at least 20 minutes a day for 5 days a week have 43% less sick days than those who only walk once a week. Nobody likes the feeling of being sick, so boost your immune system and go on a walk.
Walking has so many more benefits, but these are some of the main benefits that I think have the most research behind them. If you’re struggling with any joint pain, but still want to be active then try incorporating walking into your daily routine. If you’re trying to lose weight, you can add walking into your schedule and still have energy for another workout too. If you’re trying to keep up your health, then walking can also be the perfect way to keep your body and immune system healthy. Walking is versatile and something that we do everyday without even thinking about it. Put some time in your day aside to intentionally go on a walk to clear your mind and help your body!
