Walking to health

My opinion on walking now has gone full circle. However, I feel I can’t go any further without giving my first family dog, Sika, a shout out here. Her excitement and energy for walking were pretty infectious, and interestingly, the research now backs up what I figured out myself. Dog-owners live healthier lives, and getting a dog is likely to increase your leisure time physical activity by 69%. Choosing to be active in your free time is the best way to get the most “bang for you exercise buck” by converting any previously sedentary behaviors. This extra movement ramps up our total daily energy expenditure and boosts our metabolism, helping us to lose weight. I found that walking Sika regularly transformed my health by allowing me to increase my general activity levels hugely.

Using my new found love of walking, and following a move to London, I’ve tried to see walking more as an active mode of transport. I’ve changed my commute from a stressful bus journey, which could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 45, ramping up my cortisol levels, to a 30-minute walk (25 if I’m feeling great), and the benefits have been endless. The simple change of walking to and from work, in turn, has increased my step-count from 7,500 to around 12,500, helping me to lose 5kg, improving my mood, and ensuring I have kept my incentivized health insurance premiums down. It’s clear that walking to work isn’t possible for everyone, but I can assure you just adding a few extra steps in a day will have its advantages for all. Below are some of my favorite reasons why.

Getting that motivation to walk

I get it! Trying to find the motivation to exercise is tough. I’m one of the lucky ones that enjoy exercise. But I know this isn’t the case for everyone, and not everyone has an excitable Vizla puppy to drag you out the door every day. What I’ve found recently, though, is that having something which monitors my step count has been a considerable incentive to walk more. When I come to think of it, my housemate just got a new Apple watch, and this weekend for the first time, I saw him leave the house to go for a walk. I didn’t have to ask why. We all can get our hands on a cheap pedometer or use our phones to track our steps, and this is fantastic for goal setting for motivation. But where to start? Regardless of whether you go to the gym five times a week or haven’t been in your life, try tracking your steps and increasing your daily average by just 1000 steps a day over three months. I can assure you; you will feel more energetic, fitter, healthier, happier, and even more creative.

Why is walking good for everyone?

The single best thing about walking is that almost everyone can do it. You don’t need a gym membership, the newest leggings or workout gear, and for some, all you need is a pair of shoes, and I guess clothing is desirable as well. Even those who can’t walk can see some benefits by being in the fresh air, and manual wheelchair users can get a great cardiovascular workout. However, this is not my area of expertise, so I’ve added some excellent advice from the NHS for wheelchair users about getting active here. With this in mind, walking can be classified as strenuous exercise for some of us as well, meaning they get massive benefits. Strenuous activity, such as walking up a hill or walking quickly, causes our heart rate to increase to a higher rate, burning more calories, and strengthening our heart. Furthermore, there is some evidence to show that walking slower over the age of 45 indicates a faster decline in aging, so keep that pace up!

Similarly, people in pain may think it’s counterproductive to walk favoring a bit of R&R instead. This is the opposite of how you should manage pain, and keeping active and walking is the single best thing you can do for musculoskeletal pain. Interestingly, I often find patients asking me about exercises to strengthen their core as they try to improve their back pain; without a doubt, core rehab is great for backs. However, walking has shown to be just as effective when it comes to pain. So if you find yourself struggling with your back, get yourself moving and go for a walk to help with your pain.

How can walking improve your mental health ?

Our mental health is worsening across the board. It’s a fact. By 2030 it is expected to be the most significant cause of all-cause mortality to the worldwide population, not cancer, not heart disease, or even back-pain, which 90% of people will get in their lifetime (sorry, that’s the chiropractor in me talking). There are numerous potential reasons for this, ranging from over-diagnosis to increased worry about climate change. With this in mind, the evidence stacks up in favor of adding a few extra steps into your routine, as its shown to help fight depression, it can even help to relieve anxiety in some. Most notably, for me, I’ve seen improvements with my work. I find that my morning walk to work allows me to think more clearly, and I’m more alert without the need to sink coffee after coffee. I find this better state of mind enables me to give my work and my patients 100% focus, 100% of the time.

Additionally, walking can hugely increase your cognitive function and all-round creativity. So why not try to break the monotony of the office by trying walking meetings outside. Even if you don’t have a meeting, a short walk out could be just the spark you need as it refreshes our mind and allows us to tackle tasks from a different angle, helping you to smash through the creativity block. Take 3-minutes to watch this great Ted-Talk by Nilofer Merchant on the power of walking meetings here.

“Everything counts.”

By now most of us have heard of the ‘10,000 steps a day rule”. An excellent target to aim for and has increased lots of people’s activity levels by acting as a daily goal. However, no research states that 10,000 steps are the perfect amount for everyone; interestingly, the figure seems to date back to a Japenese company’s marketing initiative for a pedometer. Regardless of this, numerous health boards, including the British and American, have changed their recommended guidelines to state that these 150 minutes don’t have to be achieved in 30-minute bouts. This is fantastic news for all of us as it shows every step does count when it comes to health, as they all contribute to the recommended public health guidelines of 150 minutes a week. So, that 8-minute walk from your car to work or that walk to the post-office in your lunch-time break, are great ways of hitting your exercise goals.

With Greta Thunberg being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, she is and should be a role model for lots of us. She is a huge advocate of sustainable and active transport, and while not all of us can sail across the Atlantic like her, we can all improve our carbon footprint by driving less and walking more. She tells us that “everything counts” when it comes to climate change, and this is certainly true when it comes to getting those extra steps in.

Walking is one of the oldest forms of exercise. We estimate that our ancestors started confidently strolling around 3.5million years ago, and walking upright is one of the first things that differentiate us from Apes. It’s even been speculated that “Ultimately, walking may have been a key step that led our ancestors’ brains to grow.” says Chris Stringer, a leading anthropologist from the Natural History in London. “Moving upright freed the hands for carrying and manipulating tools, allowing longer-distance walking and, eventually, endurance running.” Humanity has been receiving the beneficial effects of exercise since day one. So in today’s modern world, I’d suggest trying to squeeze in as many extra steps as you can to upgrade every aspect of your health.