How to maximize the benefits of walking
For many people, walking is the simplest and most feasible form of exercise. Scientists have just discovered a super easy way to increase the health benefits of this activity.
Do you need to do anything special to reap the health benefits of daily walking? There is a lot of conflicting information on this topic.
Common advice, such as aiming for 10,000 steps a day, leads you to believe that maximizing the benefits of walking means hiking or maintaining a fast pace. But much of this advice is based on folk wisdom, not science.
What does the research actually show? A new study suggests that the key to reaping the greatest benefits from a walking habit isn't achieving a difficult goal, but simply stopping along the way to enjoy the scent of flowers more often.
Short walks also offer many benefits to the body. (Illustration: Istock)
Health benefits of walking
According toScienceAlertWalking helps exercise the muscles in your arms, chest, back, abdomen, pelvis, and legs, and although it doesn't require much effort to coordinate all of these things, your brain also gets a workout while you're walking.
Exercise programs based on short walks are used for treatment and rehabilitation for a number of clinical conditions, including obesity and stroke.
This information can also be crucial for programs designed to help people prevent weight loss while still receiving the benefits of exercise, such as eating disorder treatment programs.
According toIncA large study of 140,000 adults from the American Cancer Society found that simply walking two hours a week—about 15 minutes a day—can reduce your risk of disease and extend your lifespan. Walking helps you live longer, but it's also good for your brain right now.
Those findings apply to many forms of exercise. In addition, walking also has specific benefits.
Science has discovered that the rhythmic movement of your feet and the gentle attention that your surroundings demand while you walk can boost creativity and help you find ways to overcome mental barriers.
Perhaps that is why many of the greatest thinkers in history were avid walkers.
Why does stopping to smell roses make walking healthier??
So how do you maximize your chances of realizing all these impressive benefits? It turns out it's not by pushing yourself to walk as far or as fast as possible.
In a recent study, a group of Italian researchers measured the oxygen consumption of study participants as they engaged in short walking sessions ranging from 10 to 240 seconds on a treadmill.
Therefore, short walks can actually help train your metabolism more than walking the same distance without stopping.
What they discovered is that our bodies are like cars. To accelerate a car, you need to press the gas pedal; similarly, our bodies burn 20-60% more energy (and therefore more oxygen) when we accelerate. Walking at a steady pace burns less fuel for both humans and motor vehicles.
This means that the most energy-burning walks, and therefore perhaps the biggest impact on fitness and health, are not the times when people rush with the sole goal of running at full speed. It's when people stop, catch their breath, and then continue.
In fact, numerous studies have shown that taking the time to pay attention to the nature around us can also increase happiness and overall health. This could be as simple as houseplants, dandelions growing in a crack in the sidewalk, birds, or sunlight streaming through a window.
The takeaway here is, if your goal is to maximize the health benefits of your daily walk, you should feel free to chat, admire the scenery, or simply breathe. That will really help you reap more of the impact of your walk.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind here. First, the number of participants in the study was small, so it may not be representative of the entire population.
Secondly, all participants in the study were young, healthy individuals, so these recommendations may not apply if you have specific health problems. Therefore, please listen to your doctor.
These are definitely not for you if you're a professional athlete or a seasoned triathlete. According to the researchers, these findings are particularly important for individuals with a low aerobic fitness background and who take longer to reach a steady metabolic state.
This is good news for those who aren't very diligent about exercise. You don't need to count your steps or sweat it out on steep hills to get the most benefit from your walking habit. Those are great goals if they suit you and your fitness level.
But if you're looking for a more manageable way to get a little extra health from walking, consider stopping to rest whenever you want. Those rest periods not only make the exercise a little more enjoyable and manageable, they can also make daily walking a little better for you.
