Is walking good exercise?
Short answer: Yes!
Research shows that even small increases in your daily step count can significantly improve overall health. Here are some of the top reasons why walking is such good exercise.
1. Cardiovascular health
Walking gets your heart rate up and uplifting. In fact, it may be just as beneficial for supporting cardiovascular health as running, according to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
2. Function of the brain
Movement has great benefits for cognitive health. And research in stroke patients shows that moderate-intensity walking increases the body’s levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that supports brain health.
3. Disposition
Take a step to clear your head. In a small study young adults, immediately performing a 10-minute walk and significantly improved mood. The study shows that walking can act as a type of active meditation.
4. Bone strength
Walking is a weight-bearing activity, stressing the bones as well as the muscles, tendons and ligaments that connect them for a more stable system. In fact, research shows that daily step count — along with body weight and the amount of force you apply to the ground with each step — more accurately predicts femur (your thigh bone) bone density than traditionally used measures.
5. Weight loss
Can walking help you lose weight? Most definitely! It increases your overall calorie burn and, when combined with a healthy eating plan, can help you lose some weight.
Also, it is very effective in improving blood sugar control. By reducing blood sugar levels and subsequent insulin spikes, walking could be especially beneficial for maintaining healthy levels of belly fat, also called abdominal or visceral fat. This type of fat is sensitive to increased blood sugar and can increase with insulin resistance.
Can you lose weight by walking?
As long as walking is part of an overall lifestyle that creates a caloric deficit – in which you consistently burn more energy per day than you consume in your diet (all food and drink) – you will lose weight.
The exact number of calories burned walking varies: While a person weighing 180 pounds will burn about 100 calories per mile on level ground at an average walking speed, someone weighing 120 pounds will burn about 65 calories per mile at the same speed.
How does this play out in terms of helping you achieve your weight loss goals? In one studywhen people followed a low-calorie diet, those who also walked at a moderate pace for 2 hours and 30 minutes per week lost an average of 19.4 kilograms over 12 weeks.
Those who dieted alone lost 15.4 kg in the same time period. The walkers also lost significantly more weight from fat as opposed to other sources such as muscle.
Walking can also help manage the amount of calories you consume. A study looked at 19 participants who briskly walked for an hour and found that they didn’t feel hungrier or produce more ghrelin, the hunger hormone.
Is walking 30 minutes a day enough exercise?
Walking is a low to moderate intensity form of aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. United States Physical activity guidelines We recommend that, for overall health, adults perform at least 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week.
This equates to walking 30 minutes five times a week with at least 60 minutes five times a week. At this pace and frequency, you can cover 10 to 20 miles of walking in a week!
If that’s a bit tight for your schedule and it’s hard to find time to exercise, the guidelines also note that, for overall health, you’ll need to spend less total time doing aerobic exercise if you increase the intensity.
They also recommend performing muscle-strengthening exercises at least twice a week. To incorporate strength training into your walks, consider wearing ankle weights, holding hand weights, or walking hills or incline your treadmill.
You can also intersperse bodyweight exercises like squats, incline push-ups on a bench, and walks into your walks for further health benefits.
Walking is undoubtedly one of the easiest and most accessible forms of movement. But, is walking good exercise? Can you really lose weight by walking?
After all, these days, it seems like the most popular workouts are all about going hard, turning up the volume, and more or less reducing yourself to a quivering puddle of sweat — not really walking’s MO
Okay! Regardless of your fitness level or experience with exercise, you can reap serious benefits by adding walking to your regular routine.