Ever since the lock-down of COVID-19, I started the habit of walking every day. Most of the time I walk with a friend, but occasionally, I just do it by myself.
Walking helps me keep my sanity. I am happy to spend most of the day sitting down, in front of my computer, but after a couple of hours I have enough and I have to go out for a walk.
Today I want to talk about how walking can help us physically and emotionally.
Humans are the only animal species that walks
Our bodies were made for walking. The Home sapiens species have existed for about 200,000 years. Since then, we have been exploring the planet on our two feet. Some scientists claim that our ability to stand up upright contributed to the development of our brain.
Only during the last 200 years, with the birth of the industrial revolution, we started to walk less and to sit down more.
Our anatomy was not created for this modern world, our anatomy was created to walk the African Savannah, gather berries, and hunt animals.
Walking keeps us in good physical health
There are so many health benefits to walking.
Walking improves our fitness, our heart, reduces depression and fatigue, prevents weight gain, creates less stress on joints, reduces the risk of many cancers and chronic disease, improves circulations, posture, endurance, and the list goes on.
Those who adhere to a walking program show significant improvements in blood pressure, slow resting heart rate, and reduced cholesterol.
Conversely, lack of walking can lead to obesity.
Obesity leads to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease
I walk mostly because it makes me feel good and it clears my mind and resets my emotions.
The Mental Benefits of Walking
While the physical benefits are remarkable, the mental and emotional benefits are more immediate.
Walking increases my creativity. Researchers call this divergent thinking which is the thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many different solutions.
Also, walking for as little as 10 minutes can relieve anxiety, which considering the amount of stress that we are undergoing, it’s great medicine.
In addition to an increase in creativity, I also feel that walking improves my mood.
When I walk, my body releases endorphins, which are captured by the receptors of my brain. Endorphins reduce our perception of pain and act similarly to drugs such as morphine and codeine. When our brain catches those releases of endorphins, we feel less pain and fewer negative effects of stress.
For that reason, whenever I feel angry, depressed, or lonely, I always feel better after a long walk.
Walking has also been shown to improve memory and prevent the deterioration of brain tissue as we age.
What have you got to lose?
As we are all locked down, practicing social distancing, not only walking is good for us, but it’s one of the few physical activities available to us right now.
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