It is a known fact that walking is a wholesome cardiovascular exercise that not only improves your physical being, but also significantly improves one's mental and emotional health.

Walking for 30 minutes every day is known to improve one's health in more ways than they can expect. The below are the five health benefits of walking:

1) Improves heart health

According to the National Heart Foundation of Australia, walking 30 minutes or more daily can actually lower the risk of heart disease, and risk of stroke by 35 percent. Daily walking also helps maintain healthy weight, metabolism level, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol. In fact, any little amount of walking (if you can't afford 30 minutes daily) - including for walking the dog, walking to grab groceries, or even vacuuming the house, is shown to be beneficial for our tickers.

2) Lowers stress, improves mood

Feeling grumpy? Just get up and walk around the block as walking releases endorphins - a feel-good chemical in the body that promotes a state of pleasure like laughter and love. A 2018 study showed that even a brief 10-minutes' of walking improved the mood of participants, and brought them feelings of well-being, increased self-esteem, and even increased pain tolerance.



3) Reduces depression

A study conducted among 121 post-menopausal women showed that those who walked three times a week for 40 minutes at a time, had a significant decrease in depression. Another study found that even walking at a brisk pace for 2.5 hours a week, had a similar effect.

4) Strengthens joints

Exercise can ease the pain, and slow the progression of osteoarthritis, a form of arthritis that affects the joints. People who walked was found to have 40 percent reduction in the development of frequent knee pain, compared to the group who didn't walk.

5) Controls blood sugar level

A study involving over 300,000 participants found that people who regularly walked had a 30 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as the exercise can help control or lower blood sugar. According to another study, an additional 2,600 steps taken by a person each day, lowers 0.2 percent of blood sugar level.

Wow, so many benefits indeed! So, what are you waiting for? Put on those sneakers and get those steps going, whenever you are free!


Source: realsimple.com
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