The Joy of Walking
- medsalontoyou
- Jun 3
- 1 min read
Let’s Walk - The ultimate movement!
As I have written before, walking may be the most reliably useful exercise that most of us can undertake with minimal effort. This continues to be true as a recent TIME magazine article points out. The most important fact mentioned: Walking 8,000 steps per day reduces the chances of death by all causes by 60%, compared to 2,000 steps per day. Some other interesting facts about walking:
Varying your terrain, adding some gentle hill work, dramatically increases health benefits over flat terrain ambulation.
Strength of the big toe is a great predictor of one’s risk of falling - one of the biggest risks for we older folks taking to the streets, sidewalks and hiking trails! it also helps with propulsion as we move forward with our walking practice.
Walking outdoors, due to involvement of so many of our senses as we move from the gym to the streets- makes it more of a meditative experience adding to the benefits of walking
Pay attention of your arm movement while walking - arm activity is a major contributor to balance and stability as well as cardiovascular benefits.
Walking at a comfortable pace is beneficial, but increasing your pace by 20-30% (or 120-130 steps per minute), can have dramatic effects on your cardiovascular health.
Armed with this knowledge, I encourage you to embrace this ancient human activity, which, if you are physically able, may result in dramatic improvements in your health, weight management and general well being. I’ll see you out there!!
In health,
Dr. John Monaco
(813) 541-6440
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