Exercise can be as difficult as you think. You don’t need to go to the gym for a 30-minute workout every day. It’s just as simple as walking for 15 minutes a day. According to plenty of researches, simply walking at least 15 minutes on daily basis will extend your life for about 7 years, because it is improving your health in many ways.
Listed below are 10 outstanding benefits that you can achieve from walking 15 minutes each day.
1. Improved mental outlook
Everybody likes to feel good. Prevention states that taking a daily walk does the same for you mentally as drinking a glass of wine or eating dark chocolate. It’s a definite mood booster. You also don’t get the added calories, always a plus.
2. Maintains weight
As your doctor likes to remind you, weight is harder to maintain as you age. Taking a walk every day helps boost your metabolism. Mayo Clinic points out that walking daily will help you maintain a healthy weight and keep your doctor happy, too.
3. Aids in sleep
Like any exercise, walking will help you sleep better at night, says WebMD. A good night’s sleep helps you face tomorrow’s challenges more easily.
4. Prevents heart disease
The Arthritis Foundation explains how walking improves your circulation, which in turn helps prevent heart disease.
5. Reduces breast cancer risk
Breast cancer is a real concern for women. The good news, according to a Harvard Medical School study, is that women who walked 7 or more hours in a week were able to lessen their chances of developing breast cancer by 14 percent over women who walked less. This is a simple way to reduce the odds of developing this disease.
6. Boost the immune system
Another useful fact from the Harvard study is that those who walk at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week were less likely to get sick. Those who did become ill had milder symptoms and for a shorter period of time than others.
7. Eases joint pain
Any type of exercise, according to Mayo Clinic, will help ease joint pain, as it keeps the body moving and the joints lubricated. Walking is an easy, low-impact form of exercise.
8. Will make you “regular”
Prevention shares that walking affects the GI system and helps regulate bowel movements. If you suffer from constipation, working on a daily walk to your routine may help solve your problems.
9. Stops the cravings
Do you ever find yourself looking for sweets as you get stressed out? Taking a walk, according to Harvard Medical School, helps to curb the cravings. Simply getting out for 15 minutes can do the trick. You can even burn some calories and feel even better in the process.
10. Prevents some health conditions
As you exercise and increase your circulation and heart rate, you strengthen the most important muscle in your body — your heart. This helps reduce your risk of heart disease. The Mayo Clinic says that walking will also help lower your risks of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
BONUS: If you want to walk more take a look at these 9 guiding steps:
- Don’t go for the elevator, take the stairs.
- Walk with your friends, or go take your dog for a walk.
- Listen to a podcast while walking.
- Don’t take the car or a bus, to school or work.
- Go for a short walk after your lunch.
- To burn more calories, go for a short walk after your dinner too.
- Try the “talk and walk” meetings at your job.
- If you use public transport, get off the bus a couple of stops before the destination you are going to.
- If you are going by car, leave your car a little bit further from the place you need to go to.
- Walking can provide the best health benefits for you and your health because it will keep you in a fit shape, your body will be in perfect posture, it will affect your physical and mental state in a positive way. It will relax your mind, and it will protect you from many health conditions and issues as well.
With so many outstanding benefits from walking, why not fit such a simple exercise into your schedule? You can also make it a social occasion, walking with friends or loved ones. Stroll through the park or neighborhood and keep your body and mind healthy all in one shot.
If you have a busy schedule and you don’t have time to go to the gym or exercise, then you should at least walk every day for at least 15 minutes to experience these anti-aging benefits and much more.
So, get moving now!
