A walk a day keeps the doctor away

When your healthcare provider recommends that you exercise regularly, many people think that means joining a gym, buying expensive shoes and sweating profusely. None of these are true. A daily brisk walk has many health benefits.

Regular brisk walking will help you maintain an healthy weight and lose body fat. This leads to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and strokes), diabetes, high blood pressure and many forms of cancer.

Walking strengthens you bones and improves balance and coordination. These reduce your risk of osteoporosis (including hip fractures).

Walking also strengthens your muscle, improves your muscle endurance and increases your energy levels. Walking also has been shown to help reduce stress and tension, and to improve your mood and memory. Being regularly physically active will also help you sleep better at night. And the list goes on.

The health benefits increase as you walk faster, farther and more often. The goal is not to “speed walk” 5 miles from day one. Start with what you can do comfortably and then challenge yourself to go further. Challenge yourself to decrease the time it takes you to walk your favorite path. Overdoing it too early will lead to discomfort and discouragement.

Interval training is a method of walking where you vary the speed throughout the walk. For example, if you are walking on a treadmill you might walk at 2.5 miles per hour for 2 minutes then increase to 3.5 miles per hour for 1-2 minutes then return to the slower rate. This technique further increases the calorie burning benefit as well as strengthening your heart and muscles to a greater extent.

With better weather coming, walking outside will be an option. I do recommend getting a treadmill. You can usually get them at a garage sale at a good price. Many will be “like new” because they were hardly used! Put the treadmill in front of the television or a video device to provide you with a distraction while you walk. Watching music videos if often helpful as you will naturally start to walk in time with the music and this helps to keep you going!

It is generally recommended that you walk 150 minutes (two and a half hours) each week. I encourage patients to work up to walking 20-30 minutes each day. Making an activity part of your daily routine is a good way to ensure that you are consistent with doing it.

Having a walking companion – spouse, friend, family member or even your dog, also help to encourage you to be consistent with your walking. Another alternative is to walk every day on a treadmill while watching the nightly news. You can walk off the stress that the news provokes!

If you do not have a long block of time to devote to walking, several short walks during the day are still very beneficial. A 10-minute walk after each meal helps to burn calories and keep your blood glucose from rising. Enjoy a regular walking program.