Health Benefits of Walking

Health Benefits

"We eat too much, drink too much, smoke too much, drive too fast, and walk too little." - Margaret C. Heagarty


Besides feeling and looking great, we wish and deserve to have a sound mental health, physical strength and a long life.

Walking for 30 to 60 minutes daily can:

• cut down your risk of heart disease by 30 to 40 percent, breast cancer by 20 percent and stroke by 50 percent;
• stabilize your blood pressure;
• increase cardiovascular endurance;
• reduce depression and anxiety;
• help in weight loss by burning excess calories;
• tone up lean muscles involved in walking;
• increase lung capacity;
• boost metabolism and reduce effects of constipation;
• increase energy level; and
• reduce bad cholesterol and triglycerides content of the blood.

If walking is combined with healthy eating, walking helps in weight loss. Walking twice a day daily for a month is very effective. The benefits of walking include preventing many diseases and health conditions. Here are a few of examples:

• Walking in addition to the planned diet and prescribed drugs is the best treatment for diabetics. Together they form a complete package for dealing with diabetes and preventing its complications.
• Walking for fitness lowers risk of stroke. Brisk walking for an hour a day cuts the risk of stroke by half, according to a Harvard study on more than 11,000 men.
• Walking also boosts "good" cholesterol" and helps reduce "bad" cholesterol. Bad cholesterol causes plaque buildup in the artery walls, one of the major causes of heart attacks.
• Walking in the form of jogging improves aerobic fitness and strengthens the heart. It helps heart in pumping more blood with less effort and with less pressure on the arteries.

• A regular walk schedule can strengthen your immune system and help fight infections and diseases.
• Walking relieves sleep apnea and insomnia.
• Regular walking regimen helps reduce risk of hip fracture by strengthening the hip and pelvic muscles.
• Walking for just 12 minutes everyday, improves fitness of mind and helps relieve depression and anxiety by elevating our mood, sense of well-being and self-esteem.
• Walking imparts flexibility to the joints and thus reduces the effects of osteoarthritis.
• Walking helps reduce risk of breast cancer and colon cancer.

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