Walking can reduce Sickness

There are many health benefits to be had from including daily exercise into your routine. A large number of people, about 30% of Americans, choose walking as their preferred form of exercise.

Walking is something almost anyone can do. You do not have to buy special equipment to walk, and you do not have to join a gym, or pay a fee to walk.

A recent study that was published in PLoS Magazine reported that if you start walking briskly for 150 minutes each week, that is less than 22 minutes each day, you can increase your lifespan by as much as 4 years.

Top 10 Health Benefits of Walking

  1. Walking helps you to manage your weight. You can also use walking as a way to lose excess pounds. According to research done at Harvard University in Boston, women who walk for one hour each day are more successful at maintaining a healthy weight than women who do not walk.

According to the Journal of Physical Activity & Health women who have dogs as pets are more likely to walk for an hour a day than their non-pet owning peers.

  1. A study performed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed that taking a brisk walk to get your heart rate up will effectively cause your blood pressure to go down.
  2. The 2014 World Alzheimer’s Report showed that people who walk an average of six miles per week are less likely to develop dementia. Walking causes an increase in cerebral blood flow, and that increase of blood flow reduces the risk of developing vascular diseases.
  3. Walking helps you to maintain healthy cartilage in your knees, and this can help you to avoid the bone thinning condition known as osteoporosis. Walkers also suffer from osteoarthritis, joint pain, and inflammation in the joints less often than non-walkers.
  4. According to a research publishes in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention, women who walked for one hour a day, seven days a week, had a 14% lower risk of developing breast cancer. Another study performed at the University of California showed that men who had been treated for prostate cancer could lower the chances of the cancer recurring by walking three hours a week.
  5. According to the American Association of Diabetes Educators, walking 20 minutes will lower blood sugar levels for a period of up to 24 hours.
  6. The American Heart Association says that walking 20 to 30 minutes each day can significantly lower your chances of having a heart attack.
  7. The Journal of Psychiatric research reports that depressed adults can improve their moods by walking for at least 30 minutes, five times each week.
  8. Arthritis Care & Research reports that walking actually reduces the pain people suffer from when they have arthritis.
  9. Walking is an effective way to avoid having a stroke according to the American Heart Association.