Why Walking Is Good For You And How To Get The Best Out Of It

My husband is an ultrarunner and I am a walker. I love walking — be it to achieve my step goal for the day or just to clear my head. Some days I walk for two to three hours listening to podcasts or music or talking to my loved ones on the phone.

While 10,000 steps a day is the magic number, it may be intimidating for those to whom walking doesn’t come naturally. The 10,000 steps can be broken down into three or four parts so that you don’t need a large chunk of time to spend walking. Walking your kids to the bus stop, walking the dog or walking to a nearby shop — all of it counts. On some days when I don’t have the time to step out for a proper walk, I’m surprised how at the end of the day, I have walked nearly 6,000 steps just by moving in and around the house for chores.

Science-Backed Benefits Of Walking

Why walk? We all know that walking is good for health but here are some science-backed solid benefits that we can gain from regular walking.

1. 30 minutes of walking five times a week can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 19%. Faster the pace and more frequent the walks, the more the benefits.

2. Just 15 minutes of walking or running during the day can significantly reduce the risk of major depression, showed a recent study. The research revealed that there was a remarkable 26% decrease in the likelihood of developing depression with an increase in regular physical activity. To experience the positive effects of walking on your mood, simply start by substituting 15 minutes of sitting time with an equal duration of walking, increasing it up to an hour.

3. Postmenopausal women who maintained a healthy lifestyle and walked approximately one mile daily were found to have higher whole-body bone density compared to women who walked shorter distances. Moreover, walking has been found to effectively decelerate the rate of bone loss specifically in the legs.

4. If that’s not enough, walking also helps counteract the effects of weight-promoting genes, keeps a sweet tooth under control, reduces the risk of breast cancer, eases joint pain and boosts immune function. (reference)

Science-Backed Walking Tips

These science-backed tips on walking can help you get more bang for your buck i.e. burn more fat from your walks.

1. Always walk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach even before you have your tea or coffee. When you wake up, your body is in a fasting state overnight with low insulin levels. Walking in this state gives you a better chance of burning body fat. Even a 20-minute walk is beneficial. You can think about your plans for the day while you are walking or listen to some calming music to start the day on a positive note.

2. Try to go on a 5-10 minute walk just after lunch and dinner, even if it just means a couple of rounds around your office building or in the corridors. After a meal, your blood sugar increases and with that the insulin levels also increase. A sustained increase in insulin levels (hyperinsulinemia) causes insulin resistance which eventually leads to chronic diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes among many others. So what happens when you walk after a meal? Walking uses up some of the blood sugar so the levels don’t spike as much, and in response to the reduced blood sugar after a meal, the insulin release is also moderate, both of which are a win-win to keep our metabolism in good shape. A study showed that if we do not exercise just after a meal, then the glucose increase after the meal is about 275% of the glucose increase with walking just after a meal. This is also excellent for pre-diabetics and diabetics. Walking right after a meal was shown to be much more effective than walking an hour after the meal. So plan your walk accordingly.

3. On days you work from home, it is quite possible that you are stuck at your work desk for hours on end. Make sure to move around every hour at least for a couple of minutes, which helps contract and stretch your muscles making them more insulin sensitive. You could check on your pet, grab a glass of water from the kitchen, take a small stroll on your balcony or just stretch your whole body to a quick 2-minute video on YouTube. Studies have shown that even these tiny movements every hour make a huge difference to your metabolism.

4. Walking outdoors instead of the gym has certain physiological benefits too. Natural spaces are rich in negative ions that improve serotonin levels (mood-elevating neurotransmitter) and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. High cortisol levels are one of the reasons for belly fat. Walking outside post dinner when it is dark outside sends signals to your brain that it is night. This releases the sleep hormone melatonin in the body leading to good quality of sleep. This is the exact opposite of sitting facing a blue screen like a laptop or iPad or phone at bedtime leading to poor sleep quality. Good sleep is of utmost importance to improving your metabolism.

Walking Partners

Good walking shoes or even sandals and comfortable clothing are the only two things you really need. No gym membership or expensive equipment is needed. Good Bluetooth headphones may be. If you like listening to stuff on your walks. For me, it’s always a tough fight between a podcast and a playlist. I’ve walked 100s of hours listening to Amit Varma’s iconic podcast, The Seen and The Unseen. You can listen to the episode in which I was a guest and I spoke for 3 hours, but since then, the episodes have crossed the 8-hour mark. That’s 8 hours of your walking sorted for the week. You can also use the time to call your parents or friends. Someday I want to feel productive even when walking, so I record my thoughts for a future column or notes to myself.

Walking Friendly Workplaces

Now that we are no longer doing much of the “I think you are on mute” on Zoom, CEOs and managers can aim for more walking meetings instead of sitting around a plate of cookies in the conference room. I have a friend who always climbs his 7 floors to work. Start small by taking the lift to 1-2 floors below your own floor and park your car away from the office entrance. Install some standing desks at the workplace. Walking challenges at the workplace can be fun, with cool incentives like vouchers for active wear or shoes. By promoting a culture that encourages physical activity and integrating walking into daily routines, CEOs and managers can create a healthier and more active workplace environment for their teams.

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