In the world of health and fitness one aspect I think easily gets overlooked is walking. There are so many benefits that might just need a dusting off.
Here’s a VERY short list of benefits.
- Clears your head
- Promotes creativity
- Gets you off your devices
- Enhances circulation
- Supports better blood glucose management
- Augments stress reduction
- Easy and inexpensive to do!
Moving Beings
According to University of Arizona anthropologist David Raichlen and UA psychologist Gene Alexander we are hard-wired to move.
“Our evolutionary history suggests that we are, fundamentally, cognitively engaged endurance athletes, and that if we don’t remain active, we’re going to have this loss of capacity in response to that,” said Alexander, who studies brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease as a member of the UA’s Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. “So there really may be a mismatch between our relatively sedentary lifestyles of today and how we evolved.”
Evolutionary Scientist Professor Daniel Lieberman of Harvard states:
“Still, average hunter-gatherer men and women walk about 9.5km (six miles a day), respectively, in order to hunt or collect food.”
Professor Lieberman adds this was not to “exercise” but a necessity of life. Interesting to ponder. I’ve spoken previously about trying to move away from exercise which is solely focused on weight loss (one because it doesn’t work) but moreover to focus on the real benefits. Walking fits this wonderfully. That doesn’t mean you should forgo resistance training but as a form of total well-being enhancement.
Dr. David Klitz puts it simply:
“Walking is the superfood of exercise. It offers physical and mental benefits to people of all ages and all fitness levels.”
Metabolic Health
As a health coach focused on improving metabolic health in all ages and fitness levels, walking offers a big bang for the buck. For people who struggle with low appetite before meal walking helps increase hunger and for those trying to have better blood glucose management walking post meal can be a game changer. Dr. Casey Means had an excellent talk with Andrew Huberman stating exactly those sentiments regarding blood glucose as well as hormonal management.
In Dr. Sarah Halberg’s poignant testament “Status Quo Thinking is Harming Your Health; A Physician’s Final Plea” she talks about how walking was her prescription (not formal exercise) in the beginning stages to her diabetic patients. In my own personal experience over decades as a health coach walking has helped many individuals in turning their health around. I highly recommend Dr. Sarah’s book, a tour de force, with an excellent forward by Dr. Nina Teicholz.
And what about brain and cognitive enhancement? In this review of evidence by Environmental Research and Public Health they say yes. (ole school me says heck yeah we know this, take a walk and you reset your mind.)
“We assessed the strength of evidence from experimental and observational studies and found evidence for associations between exposure to nature and improved cognitive function, brain activity, blood pressure, mental health, physical activity, and sleep. Evidence from experimental studies suggested protective effects of exposure to natural environments on mental health outcomes and cognitive function.”
Put On Your Shoes
Bottom line is do what you can do. You don’t have to count your steps (unless of course this motivates you) but tracking is not the end all be all. What really matters is you try to move as much as you can during the day and walking fits this to the T, as a low-cost mentally and physically enhancing routine.
“Walking is the best exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”
~Thomas Jefferson
