Walking protects your heart

The heart is a muscle, and like any form of exercise, walking strengthens the heart and helps it work more efficiently. A stronger heart boosts circulation, which can help lower blood pressure and improve your heart rate. According to heart.org, for every 500 steps walked per day, adults aged 70 and older reduce their risk for heart disease, stroke, and heart failure by 14%.

Walking can also help lower other risk factors for heart disease, such as having excess weight, high blood sugar and cholesterol, and chronic stress. And if you are one of the 30% of South Africans already living with heart disease, walking can also help manage your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

Walking strengthens your bones and joints

Walking helps increase flexibility and stability and strengthens major muscle groups that help support bones and joints. This is especially important for women, as taking a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes four or more times a week has been shown to help prevent bone loss in premenopausal women.

In South Africa, 1 in 3 women risk developing osteoporosis in their lifetime.  One of the most damaging myths about osteoporosis is that it only affects old women. The truth is that bone loss in women can begin as early as the age of 25 (and new studies have shown the prevalence of osteoporosis in men is higher than previously thought, with approximately one in five men affected).

Walking boosts your immune system

Physical activity like walking is known to boost the immune system. A single 30-minute walk can temporarily increase the level of specific immune cells in the blood. Research shows that people who exercise regularly get fewer viral infections and have less severe symptoms when they get sick than those who don’t exercise regularly.

Walking promotes weight loss

Walking burns calories, which promotes weight loss. As a rule of thumb, you burn 1 calorie per kilogram you weigh per kilometer you walk. Obviously, the number of calories you burn will depend on how fast you walk, how far you walk, whether or not you are walking uphill, and how fit you are, as well as how much you weigh. The faster you walk, the higher your heart rate – and the more calories you burn.

If you’re interested in seeing how many calories you burned on your walk today, you can use this calculator.

Bear in mind that the calories you burn will only lead to weight loss if you don’t replace them with food! Walking 30 minutes a day, at least five days a week, can effectively promote weight and body fat loss when combined with a healthy, balanced, low-fat diet.

Walking improves your brain health

When done regularly, moderate-intensity exercise like walking may increase brain volume in regions responsible for processing information and cognitive skills like memory and learning. In older adults, frequent, leisurely walks have also been found to decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Walking improves your mental health

Walking naturally releases mood-boosting endorphins in the body, and research shows that the more steps you take, the more your mood improves. Those who get regular exercise such as walking tend to have almost 40% fewer days per month that they experience poor mental health, including stress and depression.

Walking helps to build community

Going for a walk with others is a healthy social activity and can help prevent feelings of loneliness and isolation. It’s also useful to have other people to be accountable to, to encourage you, and to motivate you to stick to your walking plan.

Walking extends your lifespan

Research found that increasing the number of steps taken daily by 1 000 resulted in a 22% decrease in the risk of dying from all causes, with greater decreases coming with the more steps walked. Compared with those who walked almost 4 000 steps daily, the risk of death from any cause was reduced by 49% for those who walked 5 500 steps per day, and 67% for those who walked 11 500 steps a day.

It’s good to note that extended life expectancy is mainly associated with brisk walking. Compared to slow walkers, those who take regular brisk walks have up to 20 years greater life expectancy.