The Power of Walking
In today’s blog I want to talk about one of the most underrated and overlooked ways we can stay healthy. It’s something we can do practically anywhere and has a huge impact on our body both mentally and physically, if you guessed Walking well then you are correct. With all of the fancy bells and whistles coming out in health and wellness, walking oftentimes takes a back seat in an industry filled with products, fad diets, and crazy workouts. Let’s explore the benefits of walking and talk about ways you can incorporate it into your daily routine.
The mayo clinic’s website lists these benefits to walking:
Maintain a healthy weight and lose body fat
Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes
Improve cardiovascular fitness
Strengthen your bones and muscles
Improve muscle endurance
Increase energy levels
Improve your mood, cognition, memory and sleep
Improve your balance and coordination
Strengthen immune system
Reduce stress and tension
Now that’s a pretty damn good list of reasons to incorporate walking into your daily routine, to read more about what the Mayo Clinic has to say about walking click the link below:https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/walking/art-20046261
Walking also helps with posture issues and I encourage my clients with sedentary jobs to set a timer on their phone for every 30 mins where they get up and walk around. Obviously the longer the better but even if it is just for a quick lap around your desk and back into the chair you just did yourself a big favor. Sitting for long periods of time is slowly becoming a problem in this world but little things we can do like this will help combat that.
Let’s talk about ways we can stay on track with our walking, with the many devices we have nowadays they often track our steps for us. If you have a smartphone there should already be a health app where you can set a step goal for each day that has reminders for you. There are many other health tracking devices such as whoop, oura ring, garmin, and many more that help us track our steps, calories burned, sleep, and other perimeters we may be interested in. Users beware though these things are meant to keep us on track and not become obsessed with, if you don’t hit your goal everyday don’t get discouraged. Life is a marathon not a sprint and some days will simply be better than others so be kind to yourself.
Personally I love to throw on a good podcast or music during my walk and sometimes not even that just to enjoy nature, mix it up and have fun with it. If you live in an area with inclement weather you may want to look into getting a treadmill to keep you on track. Obviously getting some fresh air and sunlight during our walk is ideal but some days the weather just doesn’t allow. Overall these are some benefits and suggestions for incorporating walking into your life, stay consistent with it and watch the magic happen!
