Walking is a form of exercise that’s easy to recommend to just about everyone. It’s low-intensity, accessible, practical, and low-risk, too.
Not everyone can safely step up onto a deadlift platform, or take up jiu jitsu. But just about everyone who might consider these more intense forms of exercise can take up walking, instead.
How Walking Can Help Your Health
In medicine, there’s no such thing as a miracle drug. But if there were a drug that shared all of the same effects as exercise, then it would be prescribed to everyone, and its inventors would have won every accolade available.
Regular exercise will lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. It will also battle chronic mental problems like stress and depression. It’ll help you reflect on your experiences, and to generate new ideas, especially if you’re doing it without wearing earbuds. As Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote: “all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”
How much walking do I need to do?
For a long time, medical experts have advocated that we walk ten thousand steps a day. However, a recent study has indicated that health benefits might kick in at a much lower threshold: 5,000.
Of course, the real figure will depend on a range of factors. Older people might not be capable of walking as far as younger ones, for example.
If you’re carrying a lot of extra body fat, moreover, then you’ll get more benefit from every step you take – since you’ll be working your cardiovascular system that much harder. A lean person might be able to walk ten thousand steps without breaking a sweat, which might be enough to discourage an obese person who is barely able to walk to the end of the street. But if you strap the equivalent excess body weight to that same lean person, then they’re going to get a much more intense workout.
Targeting a certain number of steps can help you to get the ball rolling, but the target should be there to motivate, rather than shame, you. In most cases, it’s better to target a certain daily distance, walked at the same time of day, every day.
How to start a healthy lifestyle and begin walking
A healthy lifestyle is best built gradually, by slotting a number of healthy habits into place. For some people, a pharmaceutical intervention is justified. Speak to your pharmacist about what medication might suit your circumstances.
Diet is key. For most of us, the more vegetables we’re eating, and the fewer processed foods, the better. Find a way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Pick out recipes you like and master them, so that you aren’t forced to resort to a takeaway, or to something pre-prepared.
Cut down your consumption of liquid sugar. Fruit juice doesn’t contain the fibre that a piece of whole fruit does. You’ll get a rush of sugar and then a slump, and you’ll interfere with your body’s ability to regulate your appetite. Cut down your alcohol consumption, with help if necessary.