The Benefits of Walking: A Powerful Practice for Health and Well-being
Today we're talking all about the benefits of walking and on July 1st 2023 I am holding a 30-day walking challenge in my Unlimited Community. We're going to be focusing on getting our steps in every day, increasing our energy, and there'll be prizes and lots of community involvement. Details to sign up are below.
Today we're talking all about walking and if you have followed me for a while either here or over on Instagram, you know that I love walking. It is such an important part of my own daily routine, but it wasn't always this way. So when I was in my early 20s, just starting an exercise routine, I thought walking was boring. I actually kind of thought it was pointless, to be honest. I thought I should be doing really high-intensity things to burn calories. I thought walking was a waste of time. I didn't understand at all the benefits and why I should be walking when I could be on an elliptical or on a treadmill sweating and burning calories that way.
And then I got pregnant with my first baby, and running and sweating like that just wasn't an option for me anymore. I found, especially towards the end of pregnancy, that I needed something more gentle. So I started walking. I would put in my headphones and listen to music or listen to a newscast and just start walking. And truly, those moments were some of the times I treasured the most during my pregnancy. I loved being outside, I loved being able to notice what was happening around me, and it became a really great form of exercise for me during the end of pregnancy. And I carried that over after I gave birth. I would put my daughter in the stroller and I would just walk, and it was such a therapeutic time for me. That was 10 years ago, and ever since then, walking has been so important for me, for my general health, for my physical strength, and for my mood. So for me, walking is something that I love to do every day.
And we're going to talk today about the benefits and the science behind walking. So it's generally agreed that walking and running actually have the same benefits, and there's one main difference, and that's intensity, right? That's pretty obvious—when you're running, you are doing a more intense form of exercise. So because of that, you're going to burn more calories. That truly is the biggest difference: you're going to burn more calories, and depending on your stance and your gait, you're going to get more leg strength and muscle formation while you are running. But also, on the flip side, running, as we know, is going to be more intense on the body. It takes more force through the body when you do run. So only you know which form of exercise is best for you. You can do a combination of both. Maybe you're a runner and you absolutely love to run, and that's great. There's nothing wrong with running. What I am here to tell you is that if running isn't accessible to you, like it isn't for me and my health history most of the time, if it's not accessible to you, you can find other things to do. And walking does have a whole host of benefits that are at least just as good as running.
So let's go through those.
Health Benefits of Walking
Science shows us that walking is going to help with a number of health issues. It helps with our heart health, it helps with blood pressure, it helps with our circulation, it helps with our immune system and our ability to fight disease. It helps us decrease our chances of forming diabetes. It also helps with our mood, it helps with brain function, including recall, memory, depression, and so many different things. Also including muscle strength, osteoporosis, and all of those things we need: balance, posture, things that are important now and as we age. So walking truly is so important. It can be a great addition to your physical routine and your movement routine.
Also, what I find truly for walking—and I'll tell you one of the biggest benefits it's doing for me right now—is doing for me right now. So I am in perimenopause, and I have found that adding steps, adding walking to my normal exercise routine (including lifting weights and doing Pilates and all of those other things I like to do), when I'm able to add a walk, it has really helped with that weight management. It's helped me feel more in control of my body, it really helps so much with my mood. So walking continues to be a really important part of my own movement lifestyle.
The Accessibility of Walking
Another really great thing about walking is it is accessible to almost all of us, almost anywhere. All you need is a pair of shoes and you can walk out the door. I have found that it's really important for me, and I love doing it when I'm traveling, when I'm in a new neighborhood, when I'm in a new city. It's something that I can easily do. I love doing it with my family or with friends to get a walk and a talk in. It's a great way for connection. Really interesting is that science has shown it also improves our creativity. So walking is a way that you can help solve problems that might be happening either in work or in your life. It increases our creativity and our imagination. There are so many great things about it. For me, I've been able to notice things about my neighborhood that I wouldn't have otherwise. It really opens my eyes up to community and what's going on around me. So that's kind of an added benefit that walking can have in your life.
Walking Indoors vs. Outdoors
Now let's talk just for a moment about walking inside versus outside. Benefits will be the same, so if a treadmill is more your speed, or literally if you were in a cold climate (for me here in Denver in the winter, I'm going to be found on a treadmill a lot), it is just as beneficial for your health. I do find, personally, I would always choose to be outside walking in the sun, but it's not always realistic where I live, and so the treadmill forms a great place for me to do it. So wherever walking is available to you, it's going to have benefits for your health.
Setting a Step Goal: Quality Over Quantity
Now let's talk about steps because you've probably heard it's kind of this universal understanding that we should be getting 10,000 steps in a day, but no one really knows where that number came from. And now, science and research is showing us that we don't need those ten thousand. That seven thousand steps a day is actually a great target for most of us. So if 10,000 seems a little bit out of reach, shoot for 7,000 steps a day. And honestly, if you don't have a step tracker, I think it's fine—don't pressure yourself to get to that number. Think more of time. If you are outside and able to walk 30 minutes a day or on a treadmill, that's going to get you, for most people, around that 7,000-step mark.
But if you are starting from nothing, if you have an injury, if you have an autoimmune disease, if you have anything going on that you haven't been walking, start with five minutes a day, start with 10 minutes a day, and then slowly build up from there. But whatever you can start with is going to have benefits for your health.
Increasing the Intensity of Your Walks
One other thing to keep in mind is there are ways to change up your walking if you do want to improve or increase the intensity. Some studies do show that a faster walk will have more health benefits than a slower walk. Again, that's going to be up to you. I tend to walk fast if I'm using it as a true form of exercise, but many times, I'm going to be found on a slow walk with my kids, stopping to enjoy nature, looking at the dogs that pass us. So either way, it's going to help your overall health. But keep in mind, if you want that calorie burn or if you're looking for that muscle strength, bone density, then a faster walk may be more beneficial. Also, I find when I can add hills or add steps, that's going to increase the intensity as well. So there are ways that you can increase the intensity of walking without necessarily going for a run if that's not accessible to you.
Join the Walking Challenge
So I hope this has been beneficial to you and shown you how much walking can truly have an impact on your health and on your life. I also want to invite you, if you're watching this in real time, to join me starting July 1st, 2023, for a walking challenge that I'm holding in my Unlimited Community. We're going to be encouraging each other to get a certain amount of time or steps in per day. We're going to have prizes, we're going to have support, and it's really meant to show you what the power of walking can do, especially when you have a little bit of community support and accountability involved. So the link is below to sign up for Unlimited and join us for our walking challenge. I'll see you soon. Thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment