Walking—a ‘magic pill’ for all seasons

By Bodhi Shri
Due to changing food habits and all pervasive sedentary lifestyle, and sometimes due to our genetic pre-disposition, we succumb to various lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancer. New means of transport like scooter, motorcycle and car have significantly decreased our physical activity, contributing to obesity epidemic in well of sections of the society.

Compulsively caught into the rat race of life, we normally tend to take our health for granted. We might hate pressures of deadlines, but the practical reality is that they are imperative in the modern competitive world. One just cannot wish them away. We have to be on the move constantly and the work-related stress fully takes its toll and we become even more vulnerable to several chronic diseases.

Nearly 11 crore Indians were believed to be suffering from lifestyle diseases in 2012. This figure is expected to double during the time span of next 15-20 years. The worst and shocking part of the news is that most of these people are not even aware that they are living with a serious health risk. In case of people with heart problems, a majority of them are either not aware of it or continue to live in utter denial of the severity of their condition. Ironically, 50 percent of people having symptoms of diabetes do not think that they have any serious health problem. They come to know of the debilitating disease only when they develop some serious complication. But by the time it becomes too late. Their heart, eyes or kidneys might have already borne the brunt of your ignorance or carelessness.

There is a ‘magic pill’ that works wonders in saving people from life style diseases in all seasons in all age groups and genders. The best part is that it doesn’t cost anything. This magic pill is walking. It can indeed reduce a person’s risk of getting cancer by 20 percent, heart disease by 30 percent and diabetes by as much as 50 percent. Studies have shown that brisk walking for just 35 minutes a day at least five days in a week can bring tremendous health benefits.

Walking has been scientifically shown to reduce symptoms of diabetes and depression. It also has the effect of increasing bone density to keep them strong. If one cannot due to old age or some other reason devote 35 minutes a day, the finding is that as little as one hour of walking per week can also have good effect on the heart disease risk. Researchers have also found that regular walking can also reduce pain for people living with arthritis causing joint pains by 24-32 percent.

It is never too late to start. Even if you have not done enough walking until now, you may decide to start it now. People in big cities have developed a sort of car mania. You can at least avoid using cars when you want to go to the ATM or to drop off your kids or for buying groceries .The use of cars is increasing the pollution in the air again causing harm to our health. Thus walking is good for the health of environment too. So begin walking today. You will never regret the decision.

Twelve Benefits of Walking

Cancer: You can reduce your risk of breast & colon cancer by 20 percent
Heart Disease: You can reduce chances of heart diseases by 30 to 40 percent
Stroke & Diabetes: You can save yourself from type two diabetes ( age related) and stroke to the extent of 50 percent.
Depression & Anxiety: Walking helps in improving the mood and relieves from depression and anxiety.
Joint Pain: Walking reduces joint pains and swelling that becomes a natural outcome of arthritis
Obesity: You can improve your metabolism and reduce body fat and succeed more in weight loss by this compared to other aerobic exercises.
Aging: One palpable advantage of walking is it helps in delay aging as metabolic as well as hormonal system remains toned up
Blood pressure: Walking helps keeping blood pressure in check by reducing bad cholesterol in blood stream
Brain power: Walking increases blood flow and helps carrying oxygen to the brain. This automatically tones up the brain power and memory.
Sexual Health: Brisk walking improves performance in bed and reduces risk of impotency.
Miscarriage: Regular walking lowers not only the risk of gestational diabetes and also prevents from miscarriage by lowering hormonal fluctuations.

Walking Improves Memory Also

According to a study on adults aged 55 or older published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one year of moderate physical exercise (walking 40 minutes a day, 3 times per week for a year) can increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus by 2 percent in adults aged 55 and more, leading to an improvement in memory. Also, walking three times a week may improve memory in older adults and help prevent mental decline as people age. Hippocampus is brain's memory processor that starts shrinking during middle age. The study recruited 120 older people who didn’t exercise regularly. The group with walking was found an average growth of 2 percent in the hippocampus compared with when they began, while the group which continued with their earlier habits suffered more than 1 percent shrinkage in the same region.

(Note: The article was first published in Lokayat magazine (March, 2013 issue)