Walking Is The Secret To A Longer Life

"There is no habit you will value so much as that of walking far without fatigue."

-Thomas Jefferson.

Walking is an activity we do daily from time to time; it's a task that we view as a means of an action or a requirement to move around than an exercise. Walking has been an effective means of burning calories with minimal effort. A lot of people prefer walking over any other exercise. (Nagai, M., Kuriyama, S., Kakizaki, M., Ohmori-Matsuda, K., Sone, T., Hozawa, A., Kawado, M., Hashimoto, S. and Tsuji, I., 2011)

The Walk Of Life:

Quite a few preliminary researches have proved that adding steps to your regular walk or increasing the number of short spurts of the walk may help you live longer.Walking Is The Secret for the easiest way to improve fitness and heart health.

Researchers have said that the heart needs at least 150 minutes of regular exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise. Keeping yourself busy is a great way of inculcating healthy habits, i.e., walking. Keeping your heart in tune will result in living a healthy life, which would increase life expectancy. (Horemans, H., Bussmann, H., Beelen, A., Stam, H. and Nollet, F., 2005)

Does Walking Really Work?

Between 2011 and 2015, the researchers looked at 16,732 women aged 60 and up who wore a step counter around their waist.

Participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of people who walked for at least 10 minutes, and group 2 consisted of people who walked in short bursts like going to the market, climbing up the stairs, etc.

The study participants were followed up with for an average of 6 years, till 2019.

They discovered that people who walked at least 2,000 steps per day had a 32% lower risk of dying.

Every 1,000 additional steps taken per day was linked to a 28% lower risk of mortality.

People who walked in brief bursts and those who walked for more extended periods had similar health advantages, which plateaued around 4,500 daily steps.

What Is Brisk Walking:

A healthy adult will generally walk at a speed of around 2.8 miles per hour. That speed may be influenced in part by the rate at which your metabolism begins to access fat in your body for fuel when you exercise. A brisk walk is a relative term, as "brisk" might be slow for some and relatively fast for others, depending on fitness levels.

"Steps per minute" is one way to assess brisk walking, and 100 steps per minute is considered moderate-intensity or brisk walking. For an ordinary person who does not exercise consistently, fitness experts recommend a treadmill speed of 3.5 miles per hour to correspond to brisk walking.

Your heart rate is what counts while brisk walking; here is a table to guide you:

Benefits Of Brisk Walking:

Brisk walking done regularly has a lot of physical as well as mental benefits. Here are a few:

• Lower blood pressure:This form of cardio can help reduce blood pressure.
• Lower blood sugar:Brisk walking can help our cells use insulin more effectively.
• Improved mental health: Studies have proven that brisk walking helps improve sleep, controls anxiety, concentration, peace of mind, etc.
• Better heart health:Brisk walking is a type of cardiovascular exercise that lowers your chance of getting heart disease. Walking for 5 days a week is recommended.

Calories Burned Through Brisk Walking?

The amount of calories burned depends on factors like Gender, Age, Goals, Intensity, Body Mass Index, weight, and time. But heres a chart that would give you a rough idea of the calories burnt.