Well, who hasn’t heard that old adage of an apple a day will keep the doctor away. Well, like this one, most of all old sayings, folk-lore have a basis in fact. Even if they are little pieces of facts. Well, according to “WebMD” eating an apple a day really can help you improve your health, but the kicker here is you need to eat the peel as well. Yep, if you didn’t know it, the peel has an abundant amount nutrients contained within it. But the reality is, while it’s not a guarantee that eating an apple will keep you healthy so you won’t need to see a doctor. It’s really an old English saying, emphasizing the importance of eating healthy! And eating healthy is as good advice now as it was 200 years ago.
It’s the same with walking. Everyone knows that walking daily is good for you. Why, well, we are designed to be a moving, active entity. Think about it this way. If you have a piece of machinery, say a lawnmower. If you use if every now and then, it will probably start right up. But if you just keep it in the shed and only use it once or twice a year, or maybe once in a while, every other year. Chances are it’s going to be harder to start each time you go to use it. It is the same way with your body. If you work at a job where you sit all day, your muscles are going to go to mush. There will come a time when you’re not going to be able to be as active as you want to be because your muscles aren’t being pushed as they were designed to be. Why do you think doctors and physical therapists are so hard on their patients once they get out of a hospital to get them up and moving again? They know, that laying around, or just plain sitting all day long is the worst thing you can do to yourself. You need to move and walking is the easiest thing you can do to get your body moving.
Keeping track of just how much your walking is just as important as knowing how much food you’re eating each day. In order to do this right you need to track your daily activity. In order to do this the right way you need a tool. And one good tool to keep you on track is an Activity Monitor. And if used correctly, an activity monitor really is a tool, because it gives you everything you need to monitor your progress as you get active and keep yourself active, today, tomorrow, for the rest of your life. One activity monitor that fits the bill is the Fitbit Alta Activity & Sleep Tracker The Fitbit Alta activity tracker keeps you motivated while offering features like all-day activity monitoring like Steps, Distance, calories burned, sleep tracking & reminders to move. So if have a day when the unexpected keeps you at your desk, it will remind you that you still need to take care of yourself by getting yourself moving. After all, if you can't take care of yourself, you may just not be around in the future to take care of the things that really matter. Isn’t that why you’re looking to improve your health after all?
From helping you lose weight and de-stress to lowering your blood pressure and reducing your risk of many chronic diseases, going for regular walks is one of the best and easiest things you can do for your health, says Melina B. Jampolis, MD. "Walking is the number one exercise that is recommended to most patients because it is very easy to do, requires nothing but a pair of good, supportive shoes, and has tremendous mental and physical benefits," she says. Here's what you can expect when you start walking for just 30 minutes every day, most days of the week.
Your overall mood will show improvement. You know how sometimes it takes a glass of wine or a square (or three) of dark chocolate to blunt the edge of a rough day? Well, going for a walk is a zero-calorie strategy with the same benefits. Research shows that regular walking actually modifies your nervous system so much that you'll experience a decrease in anger and hostility," she says. What's more, when you make your walks social, and go for a walk with your partner, a neighbor, or a good friend, that interaction helps you feel connected, which boosts your overall mood. Another benefit is walking outdoors exposes you to natural sunlight, which can help stave off Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), making it a potential antidote for the winter blues.
Your creative juices will start flowing: Whether you're feeling stuck at work or you've been searching for a solution to a tricky problem, research shows it's a good idea to get moving: According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition, going for a walk can spark creativity. Researchers administered creative-thinking tests to subjects while seated and while walking and found that the walkers thought more creatively than those that sat.
You are going to see you have a little more room in your clothes! This one may seem obvious, but it's certainly a happy benefit for those who start walking regularly, says Jampolis. "As you continue to walk, you may notice your pants begin to fit more loosely around your midsection, even if the number on the scale isn't moving much," she says. "That's because regular walking can help improve your body's response to insulin, which can help reduce belly fat." Ariel Iasevoli, a personal trainer at Crunch gyms in New York City, adds that walking every day is one of the most effective low-impact ways to mobilize fat and positively alter body composition. "Daily walking increases metabolism by burning extra calories and by preventing muscle loss, which is particularly important as we get older," says Iasevoli. The best part? You don't have to slog it out on a treadmill at the gym to see these benefits. "One of my clients reduced her body fat by 2% in just one month by walking home from work each day, which was just under a mile," she says.
Heart Benefits of walking: The American Diabetes Association says walking lowers your blood sugar levels and your overall risk for diabetes. Researchers at the University of Boulder Colorado and the University of Tennessee found that regular walking lowered blood pressure by as much as 11 points and may reduce the risk of stroke by 20% to 40%. One of the most cited studies on walking and health, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that those who walked enough to meet physical activity guidelines (30 or more minutes of moderate activity on 5 or more days per week) had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, compared with those who did not walk regularly.
So just maybe, just maybe, if you undertake this easy to do form of exercise, when it’s time for your next, regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment, instead of getting a scolding from your physician because you gained another 5lbs and your blood pressure is up again. You’ll get a pat on the back because you’ve lost 10 + pounds and your pressure has gone down a few points.
Now wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace for a change??
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