What are the benefits of walking?

ProTip: go for a walk! Walking is very likely the most underestimated exercise, probably because it's the least sexy. Let's be honest; there are definitely cooler exercises within an exercise library. If a Rocky training montage were just Sylvester Stallone going for a walk, the film wouldn't be a cinematic masterpiece. But just because you don't need to psych yourself up, sniff smelling salts or deploy hearts on fire by John Cafferty to go for a walk — that doesn't mean it's not a fantastic exercise! 

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Walking is one of the best exercises you can possibly do and has multiple health benefits. 

Regular walking will help you:

1. Burn extra calories and shed body fat

If your goal is fat loss, you want to move around as much as possible; walking is a low-impact, low-stress way to do this. When people look to lose weight, they rightfully reduce the amount of food they eat, but when energy intake is reduced, your body will try and preserve energy. One way it does this is by reducing your NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) — this is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. Keeping active with regular movement such as walking will ensure you're keeping on top of the calories out part of the fat loss equation and not subconsciously compensating by moving less because of the reduction in calories. 

2. Improve your cardiovascular health

It is widely accepted that regular physical activity is beneficial for cardiovascular health, and as cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death, it really shows how important regular exercise is when it comes to optimal health and longevity.

When reviewing the research, we can see that frequent exercise is robustly associated with a decrease in cardiovascular mortality as well as the risk of developing cardiovascular disease [1]. You don’t need to run up a snowy mountain in Russia (another Rocky 4 reference) to improve your cardiovascular health; running is a better tool to improve your aerobic capacity, lactate threshold and muscular endurance, but when it comes to improving cardiovascular health, walking is absolutely fine. A systematic review [2] of longitudinal studies examining cardiovascular disease risk with leisure or total walking duration, distance, frequency, energy expenditure, and pace found broadly dose-dependent reductions in cardiovascular disease risk with increasing walking levels. Furthermore, a 2009 meta-analysis [3] showed that walking just 30 minutes per day for five days per week was associated with 19% coronary heart disease risk reduction. I’m not a doctor and I’m not prescribing interventions to reduce a specific disease, I’m just reviewing the data and stating that walking, for multiple reasons, is highly beneficial to our health.

3. Boosts immune function

One study tracked 1,002 adults, that’s right, 1,000 and two, why not stop at 1000, did two people just sneak in? What’s going on here? Anyway, it tracked the 1,002 adults over a 12-week period. Those who walked at a moderate pace for 30-45 minutes per day had 43% fewer sick days and fewer upper respiratory tract infections overall. [5]

4. Improve your mood

Research shows that exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function [6]. Rhythmic aerobic exercises, using large muscle groups are especially effective, such as jogging, swimming, cycling and, of course, walking! [7] We all know the feeling of when we've been for a good walk or run and we just feel amazing, the rush of endorphins is immense. Again, I’m not a doctor, I’m not saying walking will cure depression, I’m just representing the data and the data shows that walking is pretty good at improving your mood.

5. Possible even extend your life

Again, I’m not a doctor and walking won’t walk you into the year 2222, but it’s may add on some time and keep you active into your later years. Personally, I’m striving to get to a ripe old age, get to the point where I’m really old, you know, the age where you feel it’s appropriate to merge onto the bypass doing 35 mph.

A recent meta-analysis [8] found that rates of all-cause mortality were about 12% lower per 1,000 steps per day.

A 12% reduction in all-cause mortality for just 1,000 extra steps is huge. The researchers found a dose-response relationship with the all-cause mortality risk decreasing linearly from 2,700 to 17,000 steps per day. In other words, the more you walk, the more you increase your chances of living a long healthy, active life. Unless you're going for walks in the night and get hit by a car, so wear a high-vis, maybe even a head torch if you're super keen — safety first!

The average step count in the UK is 5,444 per day. If you hit over 6,000, that’s better than most and for individuals with a sedentary life, it can be a sensible target. Most of my clients who have sedentary jobs aim for over 7,500, which is a decent target. If you can hit over 10,000 steps [8] then that’s awesome. I appreciate this is not achievable for many people working long hours in sedentary jobs. So, a good tip is to look at what you’re currently doing in a day using a step tracker; Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, or your phone and then increase it by 1,000 steps. 

Beyond the aforementioned incredible health benefits of walking, my favourite thing about walking is it's one of the few times I really unplug. Stepping out into the wilderness and truly relaxing the mind is amazing. We all need to unplug at least once per day, so get yourself outside, get some steps in, view the beautiful world around you, in the words of Ferris Bueller: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it".