The Best Exercise for your Health

Are you tired of hour long workout routines and long jogs? Is it hard to make those annoying love-handles disappear? Do you just want to be healthy and not have to do much work for it? This article is for you! If you suffer from medical conditions such as obesity, depression, heart problems and others, walking could be the answer to your problems!

Walking helps reduce the risk of all chronic diseases, while also giving you other benefits such as…

1. Weight Loss
   The International Journal of Obesity made a study of 56 participants with different body types and found that 30 minutes of walking on most days of the week may be as beneficial as 60 minutes (in combination with diet) in promoting numerous additional healthful outcomes over diet alone following a 12-week weight loss program. Body weight, percentage body fat, fat mass, fat-free mass and diastolic blood pressure lowered significantly!

2. Heart Health
   A study conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that walking briskly can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as running. Researchers analyzed 33,060 runners in the National Runners’ Health Study and 15,045 walkers in the National Walkers’ Health Study. They found that the same energy used for moderate- intensity walking and vigorous-intensity running resulted in similar reductions in risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and possibly coronary heart disease over the study’s six years.

3. Fights Cancer
   Society for Clinical Oncology found that just 25 minutes a day of brisk walking is enough to drive improvements and lowers the chance of dying from cancer by up to 42 percent!

4. Reduces Risk of Diabetes
   Researchers at Imperial College London and University College London studied how your health is affected by the way you travel to work, using a survey of 20,000 Britons. Those who walked to work were less likely to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes than drivers!

5. Delays Aging
   In a study conducted by Brigham Young University, researchers found that people who exercise regularly at a moderate to high intensity actually have longer telomeres in their DNA. Telomeres provide a vital function to the body by protecting the chromosome from deteriorating. When cells replicate or age, the telomeres tend to get shorter. Without these important proteins, the chromosomes would lose crucial information for the body’s function.
   According to the study people who exercise at high levels have a biological age of nine years younger than their inactive friends. For those who enjoy middle-grade activity, more moderate levels did not produce results as significant.
   In order to receive the benefits of this anti-aging phenomenon, people should aim to participate in cardio exercise at least five days per week.

6. Reduces Stress and Uplifts Mood
   According to WebMD. walking boosts endorphins, which can reduce stress hormones and alleviate mild depression. Regular exercise, through the production of feel-good endorphins, can improve mood and self-esteem, The British journal of sports medicine showed evidence of lower frustration, engagement and arousal, and higher meditation when moving into the green space zone; and higher engagement when moving out of it .This has implications for promoting urban green space as a mood-enhancing environment for walking.

7. Increases Your Creativity
   Creative thinking improves while a person is walking and shortly thereafter, according to a study co-authored by Marily Oppezzo, a Stanford doctoral graduate in educational psychology, and Daniel Schwartz, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education. The study found that walking indoors or outdoors similarly boosted creative inspiration. The act of walking itself, and not the environment, was the main factor. Across the board, creativity levels were consistently and significantly higher for those walking compared to those sitting.

8. It boosts immune function
   Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder.