TOP 16 HEALTH BENEFITS OF WALKING:

TOP 16 HEALTH BENEFITS OF WALKING:

1. Heart Friendly: Regular walking raises your heart rate, gets your blood pumping, gives a workout to your heart and circulatory system, lowers levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol while increasing levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, and stabilizes blood pressure, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. 

2. Fights Type 2 Diabetes: Thirty minutes of walking a day improves insulin sensitivity in your body cells, your BMI (body mass index), and blood pressure levels, in diabetics. Increased muscle movement spikes glucose and insulin consumption by muscle cells, which regulates blood sugar levels. Post meal walk improves glycemic control and lowers postprandial blood pressure and triglyceride levels.

3. Prevents Cancer: Brisk walking shortens the contact time between carcinogens in food and the intestinal lining, preventing colon cancer. Recuperating chemotherapy patients benefit from increased blood circulation and energy from walking. Risk of developing colon, breast and womb cancers is reduced by almost 20% through regular strolls.

4. Weight Management: Brisk walking shaves off a lot of calories, increases muscle mass and tone thereby increasing metabolism and calorie burning. Walking can help suppress junk food cravings and control stress and anxiety that often lead to overeating. 

5. Triggers Brain Power: Walking stimulates blood flow and oxygen, nourishes brain tissue, stimulates production of neurons, synapses, and blood vessels, sharpens brain function and memory recall, lowers the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in seniors, improves cognitive control and academic performance in preadolescents, and boosts creativity in the young and healthy. 

6. Counters Osteoporosis: Walking counts as a weight-bearing activity that stimulates and strengthens muscles, bones and joints, increasing their density and helps reduce your risk for osteoporosis and reduces risk of falls, especially in the elderly. 

7. Tones Muscles: A good walk helps strengthen and shape your arms, legs, giving great definition to calves, quads, hamstrings and relieves strain on the glutes (buttock muscles) inactivation and atrophy due to excessive sitting. 

8. Boosts Vitamin D levels: Walking outdoors in the mornings, helps vitamin D synthesis, from exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is a critical nutrient essential for core body functions ranging from bone health to immunity. 

9. Energy Source: Walking boosts circulation, increases oxygen supply to cell, helping you to feel more alert and alive. It wakes up stiff joints and eases muscle tension so you feel less sluggish. Not only can a walk perk you up when you need it, but also it helps improve the quality of your sleep, so you're more energetic all day long.

10. Mood Lifter: Brisk walking acts as an effective antidepressant, releasing feel-good endorphins into the bloodstream and lowering the hormone cortisol, reducing stress, depression, and anxiety and improving your self-esteem, mood and energy levels. Along with friends helps rid the mind of isolation and loneliness. 

11. Protects against Miscarriages: Regular light walking, can reduce fatigue and related pains, help lose weight easily, and lower risks of gestational diabetes. Walking can also prevent spontaneous abortions by lowering down the hormonal fluctuations which cause uterine contractions.

12. Immunity Booster: A 30 minute walk increases killer T-cells and other markers of immune function. The intensity of the walk correlates with improved mucosal immunity, lower risk of arthritis, macular degeneration, and even cancer.

13. Aids Balance: Slow, unsteady, and meandering walks on uneven, natural ground like non-steep mountain trails, improves balance and reduces falls in the elderly. 

14. Helps Kick the Habit: Even just a 5-minute walk cuts down on cigarette cravings -- it engages your brain's emotion centers, unleashing mood-enhancing hormones that decrease cravings and take your mind off that cigarette. 

15. Anti Aging: Exercising can add to longevity, preventing or delaying the onset of many age-related conditions including osteoarthritis. 

16. Allows Self-Connect Time: While walking you work through internal problems, come up with ideas, replay conversations, let your mind tune out from all the needless chatter, and offers infinite chances for engagement with the outside world.