Why 20 minutes of walking can boost your happiness

Research suggests that 20 minutes per day is sufficient to maintain your brain, heart, and mental health. Sign us up!

We love to walk, whether it’s for a quick stroll to the station on the way to work, or just to get our legs moving in the afternoon. While running and gymming may be firmly in the fitness camp that is good for your health, many people overlook the immense health benefits of walking.

Walking is so good for your health. Walking can not only get us from A to B, but it can also improve our overall health. Many of us know this already. Columbia’s new research suggests that more than half of Brits believe that green social prescribing, i.e. doctors who make walking in the natural world part of their treatment, would improve their mental and physical health.

WHY IS WALKING SO GOOD FOR HEALTH?

The Washing VA Medical Center has discovered that people who walk 20 minutes per day for 2 1/2 hours a week are 33% less likely than those who do not.

According to the American Academy of Neurology, walking fast every day is the best way to maintain your fitness. You have a better chance of protecting your health if you get started sooner than later.

• It’s great for our hearts

Since the 1970s, «no pain, no gain» has been the mantra of the fitness industry. It is believed that if you aren’t pushing yourself beyond your limits, then you’re not working hard enough. This type of intense training can be great for improving your fitness but it is not always sustainable. You can get injured, fatigued, and even lose interest by training hard every day.

You can still do low-impact steady state cardio (LISS) every day and it is great for your heart health. A 2013 study found that walking fast can improve your heart health just as much as running.

Researchers compared data from two studies that included 33,060 runners with 15,045 walkers. The results were published in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis. Walkers had greater health benefits than runners. They saw their risk of high blood pressure dropping by 7.2% compared with 4.2% for runners. Cholesterol risk fell by 7 % in walkers, while runners’ risk dropped by 4.3%. Both groups had the same 12% reduction in first-time diabetes risk.

Walking has many benefits, including the ability to reduce your heart rate and improve your health.
«Walking and running are ideal tests of the health benefits from moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity walks and running,» Dr Paul Williams, a study leader at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. People are always looking for excuses to not exercise. But now they can choose to run or walk and invest in their health.

• Walking can improve our immune system

Walking in nature can help strengthen your immune system. The 2021 review concluded that outdoor activities can help to maintain good health and boost immunity for people with inflammatory conditions. A study from earlier times suggested that nature walks can reduce stress, which in turn boosts immunity.

The study examined research from Japan that suggested forest bathing could play a role fighting cancer. This is because phytoncides are chemicals that plants produce, which protect them against rot and insects. It is a part of our immune system that fights cancer.

The lead author stated that white blood cell levels increase when we walk in parks or forests. This also lowers pulse rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels. White blood cells protect the body against infection and are part of our immune system.

• It can help us live longer

Researchers found that walking reduces the risk of heart disease by 31% and the risk of death by 32% in a comprehensive report. These benefits were equally evident in both men and women, and could be seen by walking a mere 5.5 miles per week at a pace of just two miles an hour.

You can walk 10,000 steps per day and cover almost five miles each day. This means you don’t need to travel far to get the cardio protections. The greatest reduction in cardiovascular disease risk was seen in those who walked faster or covered more distances.

Is it necessary to walk at a certain speed in order to reap the benefits?

Although any type of walking is fine, Dr Georgina Exercise physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University explains that intensity is important. «Ideally, it will be intense enough for you to get out of breath (i.e. Moderate intensity, which could be a quick power-walk or longer, slower-paced walks over more difficult terrain.)»

In a society where sitting/sedentary time is on the rise, it’s important to get active and reduce the amount of time you sit down. Even if you aren’t able to do moderate intensity walking/activity, breaking up long periods of sitting with light intensity movement/walking every 30 minutes is enough to keep blood sugar levels low throughout the day (which can help prevent diabetes).

She cites a 2016 Health Survey for England that found that only 35% of adults are able to do the 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. You could walk to reach that goal by doing a 10-minute powerwalk three times per day. This is possible because many people still work from home, so it’s easier to do this if you have the time and ability to get up quickly.

• Do a brisk, 10-minute walk every day

This is in line with the University of Leicester’s 2017 study that found slow-walkers were twice as likely to succumb to a heart attack than those who considered themselves to be brisk walkers. Researchers tracked 420 727 healthy adults for six years and found that there was still a strong link between walking speed and heart health.

Professor Tom Yates, who was the lead author of the study, and a reader in physical activity and sedentary behavior and health at University of Leicester, stated that this «suggests that habitual walking pace may be an independent predictor of heart disease-related deaths».

Public Health England (PHE), the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Royal College of General Practitioners advised the nation to include at least 10 minutes of brisk running in their day. They called it the «Active 10» to reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes or other conditions that can be caused by inactivity.

«I would recommend that everyone, regardless of age, take at least 10 minutes of brisk walking each day. This is a simple way to increase your activity, especially for those taking long-term medication. You will reap the benefits of walking for 10 or more minutes per day,» Professor Sir Muir Gray said, a clinical advisor for Active 10 and PHE’s One You campaign.

Experts agree that how fast you walk is as important as how many steps per day.

The Active 10 was not designed for a leisurely stroll. Power walking, although low-impact, is a full body workout that strengthens core muscles, arms, legs, and core. Power walking has many benefits, including a faster metabolism, improved blood circulation, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Even if you only get outside for 10 minutes, you can still get your daily dose of vitamin D.

Diren Kartal, Project X Training’s head coach, has taken to Instagram Stories during lockdown to urge his followers to get up early and do 10,000 steps before breakfast to motivate them.

He explains that people don’t have to run 10,000 steps per day. «I just encourage people to move more,» says he.