Health Benefits Of Walking

I absolutely love walking. I especially love walking outside and taking in nature. The great thing about walking is that not only is it free entertainment, but it also is an extremely beneficial addition to your life. I’ve listed 10 benefits of walking that might encourage you to go for a quick walk around the neighborhood!

Improve Your Mood

One benefit that I have personally noticed in myself since I started walking more frequently is a huge boost to my mood. I have noticed that I’m a lot less agitated, less irritable and a lot more easy going. I walk daily with my dog for at least 15 minutes, on the weekends I like to walk him for longer to give myself and him some exercise! Upon some research I found that regular walking actually modifies your nervous system so much that you end up experiencing less anger and hostility. The benefits really show themselves when you are outside walking around some greenery or walking in some sunshine.

I know when I am grumpy, or frustrated, or even if I just feel stuck, a walk really clears my mind and lifts me up. Throughout the week I go for walks on my lunches and it almost makes me feel like I reset my day. I feel as if I’ve gotten a fresh start and I’m ready to tackle the rest of my day!

Helps you stay active

Walking is a way to help you stay active without inconveniencing you if you don’t like working out. You don’t need a gym, you don’t have to spend money (except maybe on some good shoes), and you don’t need to do extensive research to start walking. Walking also helps increase your metabolism and helps you build muscles which will make it seem like you’ve been going to the gym!

You could also kick it up a notch and go for hikes if you wanted to! I absolutely love hikes. I love more challenging ones, but my boyfriend and I recently went on one with very minimal elevation change, it was about a 7 or 8 mile round trip and it was beautiful. We walked through lush forest, saw wildlife (snakes) and had a great conversation.

Reduce your risk of chronic disease

One amazing thing about walking is that it can greatly lower your risk for several chronic diseases. Walking is known to lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar and it helps your body process insulin more efficiently making your risk for diabetes much lower. Walking can also reduce your risk for heart attack and heart disease if you’re walking for about 30 minutes a day. Walking improves your cardiovascular fitness which means your heart doesn’t have to pump as hard to get the blood spread through your body. This means it is easier for your body to send all of the oxygen and nutrients to your organs. These benefits of regular walking can also lower the risk of stroke by 35%.

I’m going to get a little sciencey on you here. After eating, our bodies turn food into glucose. Glucose is a primary energy source for our body. Insulin and other hormones help pull the glucose into cells. That glucose will either be used immediately or stored away for later. However, for people with diabetes and impaired insulin activity, too much glucose stays in the bloodstream and this can contribute to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and other health problems. However, the muscles we use while walking draw the glucose out of circulation, which reduces the amount that’s chilling in your blood.

Can alleviate joint pain

Walking is super beneficial for people with arthritis or chronic joint pain. Regular walking helps to increase flexibility, combat fatigue, and reduce joint pain. It may seem as though walking will irritate the joints, however that is incorrect. Lack of movement can actually make your joints more stiff and painful. When you don’t exercise the supporting muscles start to weaken which in turn creates more stress on your joints. Keeping the muscles and surrounding tissues strong is so important to maintain support for your bones.

I have patellofemoral syndrome in my right knee and honestly walking helps me a lot, especially if I’m wearing my brace. Sitting and not moving for long periods of time makes my knee hurt incredibly bad and it takes me some time to get my knee back on track. I also mostly walk up and down hills on my walks. Even with my knees not being fantastic they feel so much better after a walk.

Improve Your Digestive System

Walking, especially after dinner or your largest meal of the day, can greatly improve your digestion. Exercise stimulates the process of moving digested food through the GI tract. This means a post meal walk is very effective, and much more effective than a pre-meal walk, when you are looking to control your blood sugar. Walking also helps speed up the time it takes food to move from the stomach to the small intestines. This action helps improve satiety after eating. There’s also evidence that links the faster digestion with lower rates of heartburn and reflux symptoms.

Improve Your Sleep

Moderate aerobic exercise is proven to help improve at least the quality of your sleep. It’s been shown that 30 minutes a day of moderate aerobic exercise can help you fall asleep faster and sleep longer! It’s crazy how something so small can really help you improve your quality of life.

Now, why does exercise help improve sleep? One reason is due to its ability to lower your amount of stress, and help your mind decompress. This makes it easier for you to fall asleep faster as you are not tossing and turning thinking about a million and one things. Exercise has also been shown to help regulate your body's inner clock. Some people have sleep issues due to their circadian rhythm being thrown off, and if you find the right time of day to exercise it can really help your body reset itself. I’ve found this to be incredibly true. I used to have a very irregular sleep schedule. No matter what I tried I would be awake until 3 am, maybe later, and would end up napping during the day and the cycle would continue. When I finally started waking up at a normal time and working out in the morning, I was able to fall asleep at a normal time and I wasn’t napping as regularly throughout the day.

I also have chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and I have definitely noticed a huge improvement in my sleep since I started doing 30-45 minutes of exercise daily. I also recently added this melatonin gummy to my nightly routine and that’s helped even more!

Improves Your Immune System

I was very surprised by this one but it’s true! Physical exercise, like walking, increases the amount of white blood cells circulating in your blood, and white blood cells are rockstars when it comes to fighting infection and diseases. A 2011 study that was published in the British Journal of Sports medicine watched 1000 adults during flu season. The ones that walked at a moderate pace for at least 30 minutes daily had 43% fewer sick days and overall fewer upper respiratory infections.

Now, there are some other theories as to why exercise helps your immune system. One of the theories is that physical activity helps to flush the bacteria out of your lungs and airways. Another one is that your body has a brief rise in body temperature and this helps the body to fight infection more effectively. This is similar to what happens when you have a fever.

Boosts Your Energy

I’ve found this to be incredibly true! When I go on my midday walk, I have much more energy to tackle the day than I do when I drink a Red Bull or a cup of coffee. The reason for this is that evidence shows that exercise plays a role in changing the brain's neurotransmitters, which in turn plays a role in boosting energy! The brain then releases the feel good hormone that helps give you the much needed boost. As I mentioned earlier, walking also increases circulation, which helps get more oxygen and nutrients to the brain and muscles, making you feel more alert!

Strengthens Muscles

One amazing thing about walking is that it strengthens and tones your muscles while you’re just enjoying nature! Walking is made up of two stages, a stance phase, and a swinging phase. Both of these phases involve every single muscle in your legs. While you are walking, the muscles in your upper legs, and the muscles in your lower legs, as well as the hip flexors all work together to maintain control, stability, and controlled movement during walking. This means walking directly improves the endurance of all of your lower body muscles. Walking even helps improve the strength of muscles in your lower back due to the fact that your back muscles are helping to stabilize you and keep you upright while you walk!

Improves Your Memory

This might seem a little far fetched, but what’s actually happening is that walking increases blood flow to the brain. In turn, your cognitive abilities get stronger! This is especially helpful for people suffering from dementia or alzheimers as it has been proven to slow the progression of those diseases. Along with this, walking has been shown to increase creativity as well as helping your thought processes which help with problem solving.

Walking is an amazing tool that anyone can use. It is free and it can really positively impact your life. Especially if you have a child or a dog, walking can help increase bonds and get you in a better mood! If you don’t already walk regularly, I suggest trying to squeeze in a 15-30 minute walk everyday. I do this during the week, and on weekends I try to walk for about an hour. It’s my me time, it helps me connect with nature, and really helps ground me. If you do end up adding more walking to your life let me know how it affected you!