Health benefits of walking
You carry your own body weight when you walk. This is known as weight-bearing exercise. Some of the benefits include:
- increased cardiovascular and pulmonary (heart and lung) fitnessÂ
- reduced risk of heart disease and strokeÂ
- improved management of conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, joint and muscular pain or stiffness, and diabetesÂ
- stronger bones and improved balanceÂ
- increased muscle strength and enduranceÂ
- reduced body fat.Â
- Walking for 30 minutes a day
- Moderate activities such as walking pose little health risk but, if you have a medical condition, check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program of physical activity
To get the health benefits, try to walk for at least 30 minutes as briskly as you can on most days of the week. ‘Brisk’ means that you can still talk but not sing, and you may be puffing slightly. We are recommending a goal of 10,000 steps a day!
- *The average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, or roughly 1.5 to 2 miles. It’s a good idea to find out how many steps a day you walk now, as your own baseline. Then you can work up toward the goal of 10,000 steps by aiming to add 1,000 extra steps a day every two weeks. If you’re already walking more than 10,000 steps a day, or if you’re fairly active and trying to lose weight, you’ll probably want to set your daily step goal higher.