Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve your physical and mental health. enhance fitness and prevent disease. While doing so It’s not just exercise It’s a great first step to a healthy life.
“You don’t need any equipment and you don’t need a gym membership,” says Dr. Sarah Eby, a sports medicine physician at Brigham Mass Command. “And the benefits are enormous.”
What can you do by walking?
Walking helps adults meet the U.S. Surgeon General’s recommendations for at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. This helps lower your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression, and many types of cancer.
Julie Schmied, a nurse at Norton Healthcare who runs the free Get Healthy Walking Club, says walking also improves blood sugar levels, is good for bone health, and can help you lose weight and sleep better. He added that there is.
Another benefit? It’s a low-impact exercise that puts less stress on your joints and strengthens your heart and lungs.
James Blankenship, 68, said joining the Louisville Zoo’s walking club last year helped him get back on his feet after suffering a heart attack and triple bypass in 2022.
“The cardiologist said I was in good condition,” he said.
However, Anita Gast, an exercise science professor at the University of Minnesota Crookston, says that because walking does not provide strength training that increases strength or endurance, despite its benefits, it is “not enough for overall health and well-being.” Not,” he said.
This is especially important for bone health as women age.
Experts recommend adding in such activities at least twice a week, such as doing flexibility exercises like yoga or stretching, using weights, gym equipment, or your own body as resistance. I am.
Is it really necessary to take 10,000 steps a day?
Almost everyone has heard of this walking goal. Its origins date back to a marketing campaign in Japan in the 1960s. But experts stress that this is just a guideline.
The average American walks about 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, but it’s okay to gradually walk up to 10,000 steps, Schmied said.
Setting time goals can also be helpful. Shmied suggests splitting the recommended 150 minutes a week into 30 minutes a day, or 10 minutes three times a day over five days. During bad weather, people can walk in shopping malls or on treadmills.
As you get used to walking, you can increase your pace or try climbing hills while keeping your activity level moderate.
“If you can talk but can’t sing, we think that’s moderate-intensity exercise,” Eby said.
How do you stay motivated?
One option is to walk with friends, including dogs.
Walking clubs are popping up all over the country. In 2022, New York City personal trainer Brianna Joy Cohn, 31, started the City Girls Who Walk, a TikTok post inviting others to walk with her.
“We had 250 girls come,” she said.
Since then, the group has been walking for about 40 minutes every Sunday, then meeting for brunch or coffee afterwards.
The Louisville Zoo launched a walking club in 1987, partnered with Norton in 2004 to expand the club, and now boasts more than 15,000 registered members. Every day from March 1 to October 31, people will roam the 1.4-mile loop before the zoo’s official opening.
Tony Waiter meets his two brothers every Friday. On a recent morning, they updated each other as they ran past zebras and sunning seals in a fenced field.
“I’m enjoying the peace and quiet. It’s cold but the sun is shining and I can see the animals,” said Waiter, 63. “It’s a great way to start the morning.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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