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.
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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.
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- 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.
