Why a Brisk Walk may be the Best Workout of All
Complicated aerobic exercises can have a great effect on personal fitness. But so, too, can something as simple as walking.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently revealed that overweight people who walked briskly for 30-60 minutes a day lost weight even if they didn’t change any other lifestyle habits, though a balanced, nutritious diet is vital for long-term health.
Another study found that people who walked for at least four hours a week gained less weight (an average nine pounds less) than couch potatoes as they got older.
Last year, researchers at the University of Colorado discovered that regular walking helped to prevent peripheral artery disease, which impairs blood flow in the legs and causes leg pain in one-fifth of elderly people.
And walking can apparently even help to prevent colds. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts medical school found that people who walked every day had 25% fewer colds than those who were sedentary.
Because walking is a weight-bearing exercise, it can also help prevent the bone disease osteoporosis. Bones are like muscles in the way that they get stronger and denser with the more demands you place on them. The pull of a muscle against a bone, together with the force of gravity when you walk, will stress the bone – which responds by stimulating tissue growth and renewal.
Best of all, walking makes you feel good about yourself. For people suffering from depression, walking three to four times a week for 30 minutes has been shown to enhance their mood.
Experts recommend walking 10,000 steps most days (about five miles) to stay healthy. But don’t be alarmed by that prospect because you’re allowed to take as long as you like to work up to feeling comfortable with walking that kind of distance.
Regular exercise when combined with a healthy diet can help reverse an underlying cause of obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
If left unchecked, obesity can also lead to the cluster of increased risks for heart disease called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X) as well as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) – a leading cause of menstrual irregularity and infertility, acne and other skin conditions, excess facial hair and female hair loss. Overweight women do not have a monopoly on PCOS, however. Up to 50% of PCOS sufferers may be females who are of normal weight or even lean.
Overweight men are at greater risk of prostate cancer. Insulin Resistance-linked weight problems are also associated in both sexes with Type 2 Diabetes. Before the onset of this latter condition, however, most people develop reversible Pre-Diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are elevated beyond normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. Left unchecked, Pre-Diabetes may lead to the Type 2 variety, which can only be managed for the rest of a person’s life. Many Diabetics require daily injections of insulin.
Type 2 Diabetes severely increases the risk of blindness, amputation and kidney disease, as well as a heart attack or stroke. Some 90% of people with Type 2 also suffer from excess weight or obesity.
