See 10 Amazing Benefits of Walking.
Walking lowers blood sugar.
A 15-minute walk after each meal reduces your blood sugar for over 24 hours, a study published in
Diabetes Care found—a good reason to skip dessert and step outside instead.
Walking keeps older adults sharp.
Living in a walkable neighborhood can be great for older adults, researchers say, resulting in not only physical benefits like lower body mass and blood pressure, but better memory and cognition too.
Walking may lower breast cancer risk.
Spend two and a half hours walking briskly each week and you may cut your risk of breast cancer by 42 percent, a study of over 79,000 women found. According to research in
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,
exercise alters how the body breaks down the hormone estrogen into
either benign or harmful byproducts. It also reduces fatty tissue in
women’s bodies, which secretes estrogen.
Walking can ease fibromyalgia pain.
Light exercise like walking—even walking in a pool, for a lower-impact option—has been shown to significantly improve physical function, fatigue, and depression in women with fibromyalgia.
Walking cheers you up when it’s part (or all) of your commute.
One study
found that the longer people spend commuting via car, the worse their
psychological well-being. And just adding 10 minutes of walking to that
commute can actually improve well being. “A more active commute to work
can be associated with the same psychological benefits as things like a
raise in income or starting a new relationship,” study author Adam
Martin says.
Walking helps you at work.
A walking work station at the office isn’t in reach for everyone—but if
your employer is open to it, the benefits could be huge. Researchers found
that people who used walking workstations were less bored and
stressed, and more satisfied than those who stood or sat at their desks.
Walking boosts your immune system.
A walk a day keeps the doctor away? Perhaps—a daily 30-45 minute walk at
a brisk pace can boost the immune system and keep colds at bay,
according to research
from Appalachian State University. And not only do regular exercisers
get sick less often, their colds are all shorter and less severe.
Walking can reduce risk of impotence in men.
Some time spent in sneakers can lead to a better time between the sheets, according to a nine-year study.
Researchers found that a brisk two-mile walk each day can reduce men’s
risk of impotence, improving blood flow throughout the body (yep, we
mean everywhere).
Walking lowers blood pressure.
Just 30 minutes of brisk walking lowers
blood pressure—and that holds true whether you walk for 30 minutes at a
time or break it up into 10 three-minute walks, a totally do-able goal
even for those of us stuck sitting in an office all day.
Walking energizes you.
If you regularly experience fatigue, don’t shy away from lacing up—low intensity
exercise won’t wipe you out, says a study from the University of Georgia. In fact, it can increase your energy level by 20 percent and decrease fatigue by 65 percent.
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