With so many people dealing with chronic disease, obesity, and general unhealthiness, you’ll need to look into lifestyle changes that keep you healthy.
So does this mean you have to become a gym nut?
Not in the least. In fact, you can revolutionize your total health by simply walking 30 minutes a day. Yes, a simple half-hour of low-level physical activity can set the tone for the rest of your health and fitness.
Check out these tips below to see how this works, and how you can start seeing these benefits today.
1. Walking 30 Minutes a Day Defeats a Sedentary Lifestyle and Keeps You From Sitting
The problem that most people run into isn’t that they can’t bench press their body weight or run a 5K — it’s that they simply sit down far too much.
Prior to the comforts of today, human beings walked several miles to hunt, worked the fields, or exerted themselves physically for long hours to earn a living. Now that most of us earn a living behind a computer screen, most of our daily lives take place in a sitting position.
See if this rings true.
Most of us get out of bed and get ready for work, sit in traffic driving to work, set at a desk to do our work, before sitting in the car to return home — only to spend the rest of the day sitting on the couch to watch TV or comb through a mobile device.
This amount of sitting isn’t just unhealthy — it’s downright deadly.
Medical professionals are saying that sitting is the new smoking, and is unhealthy to the point of taking precious years off of our lives.
So while walking a half-hour each day won’t turn you into a physical specimen, it will get the ball rolling toward fitness and will help you get off the couch and get your body moving.
2. You’ll Develop Healthy Habits That You Can Build On
Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to walking every day. You’ll get used to moving your body, and before you know it, you’ll want to eat better and work out harder.
Building such a healthy habit teaches you to love your body, and will make you curious about other forms of health and fitness that you can explore. That walk might eventually turn into a jog, dance or other physical activity that can keep you healthy and strong.
3. It Improves Bloodflow and Circulation
By walking each day, you’ll improve your blood flow and circulation as you build a healthy heart.
This way, you’ll lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels. As such, you are less likely to have a heart attack or stroke and will be much healthier overall.
4. Your Mental Health and Cognitive Function Will Improve
When you walk regularly, it also has several brain health benefits. It allows you to pump good brain endorphins that help you experience feelings of euphoria and mental clarity that you probably didn’t experience prior to this habit.
In fact, medical professionals often suggest going for long walks every day in order to get mental health benefits. Walking can help you get through depressive spells and other mental issues that may have otherwise gotten the best of you.
5. Walking Will Tone Your Legs and Keep Them Healthy
Of course, walking every day will keep your legs toned and strong.
You’ll love the way that your outfits look and will have better endurance in all of your physical activities. This can be especially important if your legs are skinny or weak.
6. It Allows For Total Body Toning
When you walk on a regular basis, you will start to watch the fat melt away, which will keep your body healthy and toned as a whole.
Whether you are looking to fit into your swimsuit this summer or simply want to get rid of some problem fat areas, walking on a daily basis is a great start. You will improve your metabolism and will be less likely to pile on fat as you eat meals each day.
7. Daily Walks Can Keep Diabetes at Bay
Finally, it’s important to understand how important daily walks are toward keeping potentially deadly diseases at bay. Diabetes happens to be one of those diseases.
Since more than 100 million people suffer from diabetes, you can never do too much to keep it at bay.
When you walk on a regular basis, you are giving your body a chance to avoid the development of diabetes. This improves your quality of life and can help you from developing this and other such issues that come about due to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Consider These Tips and Start Your Daily Walk
Who knew that something as simple as walking 30 minutes a day could yield such exponential benefits?
Now that you know, it’s time to start putting this plan into action.
Get your sneakers on and start walking 30 consecutive minutes each and every day. Before you know it, you will start to notice these and other health benefits, and will likely want to see what else you can do.
You can also start a walking group with loved ones so that you are motivating each other and spending plenty of time together.
Let these tips guide you and serve as the beginning of your health journey. For more info on health and fitness, and living an active and fulfilled life, stay tuned to our content.