Go for a walk...
…down memory lane.
…and talk.
…up the yellow brick road.
…and discover the health benefits of walking.
Whatever your choice, it doesn’t matter, only that you take a walk. I would suggest once or twice a day minimum to feel the benefits of walking. It requires little energy but assists greatly in becoming a rolling ball of action. It improves physical and mental wellbeing… and guess what?
It’s free.
Ancestry
As always I like to look at our ancestors’ lifestyle to weave into our modern-day lives.
Unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity to hunt myself, but I have heard stories of hunters trekking miles for their trophy – and that’s with a gun that can kill from a great distance.
Imagine back in the day, like real back in the day, when the distance of the kill would have been a bow or a spear and the gathering of forage would have been with your own hands, not by the hands of an imported farmer from a poorer country.
You can see where I am going with this. We aren’t anywhere near as active as we ought to be.
Comfort and Convenience are the main benefactors of this problem.
I often refer to convenience as the Devil’s temptation. It almost always has a hidden contribution to sinful behaviour or someone else’s agenda.
Comfort and Convenience are things that can be moderated however and the best way is utilising a routine.
It may not have been written down, but our ancestors would have used routines for things like surviving each change of the season. Even then, when things had to be physically completed they would probably have had enough comfort to just sit around being lazy and leaving things until the last minute (or day-light).
So now that everything can be completed via the mobile phone, and the furthest you literally need to walk is from your sofa to your front door, most of us are in desperate need of physical activity.
Most of us are far far from the heavy physical requirements that our ancestors used to complete, let alone hitting the CDC’s minimum recommendation of 10,000 steps a day to receive the benefits of walking and general exercise.
Walking is a good place to start, and who knows, maybe you’ll become a rolling ball of activity after reading this and going for a stroll?
Reducing Anxiety
Walking is one of the easiest actions to reduce anxiety – you could probably just get up and walk right now.
It’s easily combined with breathing. Yes, breathing. Many people are breathing incorrectly. If I use the term mouth breather, how does that sound to you?
Like an insult right?
So stop doing it. Concentrate on your nasal breathing,
Allow your conscience to acknowledge everything around you from physical matter to the vibrations of each footstep, the rustling of the leaves, the whistling of the breeze.
Walking provides this opportunity to meditate whilst fulfilling a physical activity. Which I will talk about later in this post.
Use the same meditative techniques to concentrate on your breathing and allow your mind to wander from time to time.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be purely meditative. There are many physical rewards to walking and so I often take a walk and listen to podcasts to listen to my inspirers and increase my knowledge… on everything.
Benefits of Walking - A Rolling Ball of Action
Creativity
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, walking is a great action, and action often becomes momentum.
A study from Stanford University shows a 60% increase in creativity output and a study at the University of Kansas showed a reduction in the chances of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Over 35 million people in the world suffer from Alzheimer’s and that number is increasing. It could simply be in correlation to the growth of human populations, but I would argue exercise and… diet (for another day)… have something to do with that growing problem.
The increase in creativity is actually helping to write this article.
I had lunch and often after eating I’m extremely tired, so I go for a short walk after. Just fifteen minutes at a fairly leisurely pace.
Digestion
The creativity doesn’t always last long, but the walk also assists with digestion, especially if you’ve eaten something carbohydrate intensive. Walking for just fifteen minutes after a meal can balance the blood sugar levels, so they don’t spike quite as high.
I’ve done a fair amount of research over the last few years into diet, often practising on myself and what I can conclude from all of the podcasts, blogs, studies and videos I’ve read and watched, is that the insulin spike is the biggest concern for health.
The muscles we use when walking use glucose as energy, therefore reducing how much remains in the blood.
Other Health Benefits of Walking...
Improved Eyesight
Exercise has been proven to help prevent glaucoma by reducing the amount of eye pressure. Pressure occurs when too much fluid builds up in the eye, which results in impaired eyesight.
Simply using your eyes in the real world helps develop the muscles too. It’s essential to look around at your surroundings for survival and it’s also nice to just observe nature. Both reasons to utilise the eyes involve looking at multiple distances and many million details.
Prevention of Heart Disease
Walking is a low-aerobic activity, which helps all muscles develop, including the heart.
I wouldn’t suggest it to be a complete solution to heart problems though, as to be effective, exercise should be at the right intensity (about 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate) for your age and fitness.
Sturdier Bone Structure
The Arthritis Foundation suggests a minimum of moderate walking 30 minutes per day to reduce pain, stiffness and inflammation in the joints.
Using the body each day to complete physical activities improves its strength each time – that is if the physical activity is not too strenuous that the body is unable to handle such stress.
Back Pain Relief
Because walking is a low impact activity it won’t cause further stress to muscle tissue in the back. Walking contributes to better blood circulation within the spinal structures, pumping important nutrients into the soft tissues, improving posture and flexibility.
As you walk you make your spine more stable.
Increased Lung Capacity
As with the above, exercise is great with improving lung capacity. Aerobic activities, which means it helps increase oxygen flow in the bloodstream, eliminating toxins and waste.
Conclusion
The mind and body are one and walking contribute to that unity, as does exercise in general. It’s just that walking is a little slower-paced, allowing more thinking time or more podcast time, whilst being easier on the body and improving certain functions.
I like night time strolls, as much as post-meal day time strolls. There’s so much to observe out there in the world. Everything is constantly changing, evolving and you can see those if you pay enough attention. I can appreciate all of this whilst benefitting, well from the benefits of walking.
What is stopping you from walking right now?
Nothing that isn’t a poor man’s excuse, I’m sure.
