One of the most critical things for a person’s mental and physical health is exercising. Even if you don’t have time for intense workouts and long gym sessions, you can take some time for walks.
Half an hour of walking each day will make positive changes toward your health. Here’s what is happening to your body if you take walks every day:
Better Heart Health
– it’s logical that any sort of physical activity helps reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disorders. Some of the positive benefits that you’ll experience through daily walks are:
- Lower blood pressure
- Stronger organs and heart rate
- Better blood and oxygen circulation
- Cholesterol and fat balance
- Reduced risk of coronary issues, stroke, and heart diseases or failures.
Strengthening Bones and Joints
– one of the biggest factors toward joint and bone degeneration is age. However, it does not escape younger people and the best way to prevent age-related degeneration is to stay active. Aside from removing these age-related issues, walking will keep the bones strong, provide some degree of pain relief from back pain, better flexibility for the lower back area, builds up leg muscle and endurance, reduces joint pain in the legs and loosens them, and lowers the chances of developing injuries.
Improves Vision
– although exercising isn’t directly linked to the eyes, the vision benefits greatly from every day walks. Glaucoma, an eye condition that occurs from pressure on the eyes, can be reduced by walking by 73%.
Helps People Mentally
– escaping negative thoughts and disorders can be done with walking.
With just 200 minutes of physical exercise, symptoms of clinical
depression have been alleviated. Low-intensity strolls in the park can
help you alleviate stress
as well. Walks for about 20 minutes are enough to lower the cortisol
(stress neurotransmitter) levels in the brain and bring it into a
relaxed state. Endorphins are also produced at an increased rate when
you walk making you feel happier and energized, bettering your mood.
Aside from the stress and the mood, walks can also help fight against
frightening diseases such as Alzheimer’s, stroke, and Dementia.
Losing Weight
– it’s a no-brainer that walking helps you lose weight. Even as a simple cardio exercise, walking can burn lots of calories and helps bring the metabolism up, helping the body use its stored excess fat. Just make sure that the pace you walk in brings your heart rate up and makes your breathing deeper. Additionally, walking can stimulate your digestion, allowing your body to digest the food you’ve eaten properly and efficiently. Blood sugar and blood glucose are lowered with walking, making it hard to gain weight. Walking can also help engage different body muscles, giving your body a full workout, even in low-intensity.
Cardio Exercising
Walking is a part of cardiovascular exercises as long as it brings your heart and breathing rates up. It should also improve the functions of your lungs, circulatory system, and heart. Ordinary workouts such as stair climbing, cycling, running, and walking, are part of cardio exercises. There are limitless options for cardio training such as shooting hoops, kickboxing, even shoveling snow. As long as you keep the intensity high enough, challenging both your lungs and heart, you can list it as a cardio exercise. However, the intensity mustn’t be too high, especially if you are just beginning to exercise. If you have been exercising for a while, you should know how hard the intensity should be. Just make sure that you involve larger muscle groups such as the legs since smaller groups like calves and biceps don’t generate a large oxygen demand.
Just like the benefits of walking, cardio exercises bring the same health benefits and give you a larger chance of longevity. With all the different options for cardio, you can choose exactly what you want to do. Remember, if you don’t have enough time to do the more intense cardio exercises, always stick with walking.
Sources:
openfit.com