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Walking Benefits Every Organ Of The Body!

Walking is a safe, low impact exercise that only requires proper clothing and footwear, it can be done outdoors or indoors, requires no trainers or special gear.

Effect of walking on health:

Weight loss:

Walking burns about 250 calories per hour and since it is a low impact exercise, one can walk much longer than high impact exercise like running or HIIT. So effectively, it can help burn a lot of calories if you can invest enough time into it, even spread over the day and this helps weight loss.

Weight loss helps lower blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol and protects us from diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

Heart:

According to the American Heart Association, walking is as effective in preventing coronary heart disease as running. A daily thirty minute walk lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and improves blood circulation, helping prevent heart disease and strokes.

Brain:

Walking regularly improves the brain health. A University Of Kansas study found that walking prevents early onset of dementia and reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. 

Over 35 million people worldwide are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and scientists predict that the number will double in twenty years.

Those who have been active lifelong are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those who are sedentary. Being physically active increases the volume of the hippocampus. It is a small, curved structure located deep in the brain’s temporal lobe. It plays a central role in memory and learning,

Walking reduces stress and stimulates the of release of endorphins, it not only stimulates the chemicals that improve brain health but also the growth and survival of the neural blood vessels.

Mind:

Walking calms your mind. In a study on fifty severally depressed individuals the Journal Of Psychiatric Research found that thirty to forty five minutes of walk five days week significantly improved their condition. If it can do this to severely depressed people you can imagine how easily it can improve your mood when you feel a little low!

Walking stimulates production of various beneficial brain chemicals including endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and brain derived neurotrophic factor. These chemicals improve self esteem and are also responsible for elevating mood, keeping us happy, energetic, improve focus, attention, and divergent thinking and problem solving abilities. It also reduces cortisol levels and brings in a sense of calm.

Eyes:

It helps relieve eye pressure and helps relieve glaucoma and its symptoms. The Glaucoma Research Foundation recommends walking as the best exercise for reducing the risk of developing glaucoma and also for relieving its symptoms. Both low and high intensity exercises improve the health of the visual cortex, that part of the brain that processes the visuals that our eyes send to it.

Lungs:

It improves lung volume and function. Walking is an aerobic exercise, it increases oxygen flow in the blood and helps eliminate toxins and wastes. Deeper and better breathing improves the lung function and helps significantly improve some symptoms of lung disease.

Immune system:

Stress and lung disease medication weaken the immune system, walking outdoors in green environment strengthens immune system.

Pancreatic health:

Walking improves pancreatic health and function better than running. Walking is a more effective way of preventing diabetes than is running.

A six month trial in a Duke University study of a group of people who walked regularly, showed a six times greater improvement in glucose tolerance than a group of runners. More efficient use of sugar allows the pancreas to produce less insulin and gives it much needed rest.

Digestion:

Walking improves digestion. Just thirty minutes of daily walk improves digestion and regulates bowel movement, helping prevent constipation.

It helps prevent colon cancer. It also helps people survive colon cancer even amongst those who have already been diagnosed of it.

This fact has been established in a study of over 1,50,000 people where the activity levels of people who had survived colon cancer were compared with those who had colon cancer and died of it.

Muscles:

Just thirty minute walk every day helps tone up your muscles. Walking about 10000 steps or about 7.5 km with some uphill walking included in it, is as effective as proper workout in a gym.

Bones and joints:

It helps build stronger bones and joints. Walking improves joint mobility, bone density and reduces the risk of fractures.

The Arthritis Foundation recommends thirty minute walks to reduce pain, stiffness and inflammation in the joints. Strong bones reduce bone loss and help prevent osteoporosis.

Backache:

Walking reduces back pain. It improves blood supply to the vertebral structures and pumps nutrients into the soft tissues around them.

Walking makes the spine more stable and strengthens the muscles those keep the spine upright.

This improves posture and flexibility.

In short, walking is a magical exercise that can completely revolutionise your health.

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So wear comfortable, breathable clothes, put on good quality walking shoes and start walking, any time of the day, indoors or outdoors, even better in natural, green, pollution free areas.

Walk as much as you comfortably can, at your own comfortable pace and keep walking consistently, increase the time and pace of walk as you get fitter.

Walk morning, evening if you can, try reaching at least 6 km a day and more if you can and watch how it works its magic on your health!

Also read the articles ‘Walking To Be Slim And Healthy’ and ‘The Safest Slimming Exercise In The World!’ on this website.

Preventing Heart Disease!

Nearly thirty per cent of adults over forty five years of age in India have a confirmed diagnosis of cardiovascular heart disease.

Nearly 350 men per lac men and 265 women per lac women in India die of cardiovascular heart disease.

And cardiovascular heart disease is largely preventible, and still we see a large number of people suffering from it.

It is not too difficult to stay heart healthy if we know what to do to stay heart healthy and are a little conscious about how to stay that way.

Staying heart healthy is all about consistent, balanced habits. 

Here are some of the key things that help.

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Eat healthy: 

Adapt a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals and pulses, skimmed or low fat milk and its products like curds, buttermilk, home made paneer.

Non vegetarians can have lean proteins like fish, especially sea fish and lean meats.

Vegetarians can get adequate proteins through milk and the combined consumption of pulses and cereals.

It is also important to get moderate amounts of healthy fats from our food. In India, for our relatively high temperature cooking, groundnut oil if your cooking is low temperature cooking, like salad dressing, olive oil, nuts, and avocados provide good fats. But make sure your fat consumption is very moderate as we are also watching our weight.

Limit saturated fats viz. fatty meats, cream, butter, ghee, trans fats viz. vanaspati ghee, coconut and palm oils, fried foods, salt and added sugars.

Most of these precautions are also in confirmation with the DASH Diet or the Mediterranean Diet, both have been confirmed to be great for heart health.

Eating healthy can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by 30 per cent!

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Get off your chair or the couch and get adequate workout.

Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise like brisk walking or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise like running or jogging per week.

Include strength training a couple of times a week, too, if you get proper guidance for it or have already been trained to do it. Small weights and more repetitions are more likely to be beneficial as there is lesser risk of injuries in it.

Regular exercise as simple as brisk walking 150 minutes a week can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 to 30 per cent!

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Lose weight, if you are overweight.

Getting completely slim from being obese can lower your heart disease risk by 50 per cent, especially losing weight by adapting a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

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Manage Stress:

Chronic stress can increase blood pressure and heart disease risk.

Practices like meditation, deep breathing, pranayam, yoga, yoganidra or just taking time to chill out can help.

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Sleep Well:

Get  7 to 9 hours of quality sleep each night.

Poor sleep can contribute to high blood pressure and other heart problems.

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Avoid Smoking and Limit Alcohol:

Smoking is one of the worst things for your heart. If you smoke, quitting altogether is the only option if you wish to stay heart healthy.

If you drink, do so in moderation. Western advice is maximum one drink a day for women, 2 for men, but this limit is probably guided more due to the culture of drinking daily in the West. 

In our culture, it should be limited to one and two a week, for women and men respectively, complete quitting is even better if you want to get heart healthy.

The DASH Diet also advises similarly.

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Keep an eye on your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and weight.

Regular check-ups can catch issues early.

Make sure they are all within normal range.

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Stay Connected:

Social interaction with family and friends is good for your heart. Staying connected helps reduce stress and improves emotional well-being.

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A 2021 study in the Lancet found that the modifiable risk factors, particularly diet, blood pressure and cholesterol, account for over 70 per cent of global cardiovascular deaths.

Meaning eating healthier and controlling the blood pressure and cholesterol can lower the global cardiovascular deaths by over 70 per cent.

The INTERHEART study (global case-control) showed that 90 per cent heart attacks can be explained by modifiable lifestyle factors.

Meaning probably that 90 per cent of heart attacks can be prevented by lifestyle modification.

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So making these lifestyle changes can immeasurably improve our heart health, the sooner we begin the better, but it is never too late.

Also read the article ‘Eating To Lower Your Blood Pressure And Become Heart Healthy!’ on this website.

The DASH Diet Or The Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension!

Most people know that a very large number of people in India suffer from diabetes and it is a very grave disease that can damage the health of multiple organs and can be fatal.

What is probably not as commonly perceived is that there are over three times more hypertensives than diabetics in India and hypertension is as grave a disease as diabetes.

And there is a way of eating that can lower your blood pressure and help you become heart healthy.

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The world famous hypertension prevention diet is the DASH (Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension) diet.

It recommends:

Eat ample fruits and vegetables.

Eat ample whole grains.

Eat lean meat, poultry, fish and legumes.

Consume low fat or fat free dairy.

Eat unsaturated fats, avoid saturated fats.

Limit red meat.

Limit salt, sodium consumption.

Avoid or limit alcohol consumption.

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Health benefits of the DASH Diet:

Lowers blood pressure.

Improves cholesterol.

Lowers heart disease risk.

Supports weight loss.

May lower the risk of diabetes and strokes.

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Adapting the DASH Diet to our food.

Whole grains:

Our major meals basically consists of a combination of whole grain cereals in the form of chapati, rice, bhakri and whole grain pulses and legumes in the form of varan / amti / dal / sambar and  usal / pithla. So it is already rich in whole grains, as is advised on the DASH Diet.

Plus both cereals and pulses lack one and three essential amino acids respectively but the amino acid lacking in cereals (lysine) is available in pulses and the amino acids lacking in pulses (methionine, tryptophan and cysteine) are available in cereals.

So we should look to consume cereals and pulses together in both the major meals.

We also consume vegetables in both of our major meals.

So we should consume cereals, pulses and vegetables and moderate amounts of a good cooking oil to cook them, in every meal.

This is not difficult as normally also we eat in the same pattern.

This also implies that we should avoid simple carbohydrates like sugar, jaggery, honey, rava and maida (all purpose flour) and bakery products.

We should consume skim milk or low fat milk, legumes (pulses), fish, lean meats and chicken for proteins.

Skim milk or low fat milk and curds, buttermilk, paneer made from this milk should be part of this diet.

Vegetarians can have adequate low fat milk and pulses and cereals to get proteins sans fats, which the DASH Diet recommends.

Eating low fat dairy (milk and its products) and lean portions of meat and poultry satisfies this condition in people who also consume non vegetarian food.

Eggs too are low in saturated fat and can be included in moderation in this diet, no more than a whole egg a day, for four or less days, especially if you are watching your cholesterol as it has 210 mg cholesterol in a whole egg.

If you eat fish, include sea fish, especially the fatty fish in your food twice a week, it provides healthy fats and the heart healthy sea source omega 3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA.

They prevent inflammation in the arteries and thus help prevent atherosclerosis of the arteries, helping lower the blood pressure and to prevent heart attacks.

It also allows nuts and seeds as they have good fats and are low in saturated fats, but eat them very moderately if you are looking to lose weight. They are high in fats and thus high in calories.

DASH Diet recommends stricter control on salt and sodium.

So use salt minimally in your cooking, avoid high salt, high sodium salty snacks like chips, French fries, fast foods and seasoned, frozen ready to eat meats.

Avoid alcohol consumption completely or reduce it as much as possible.

Also read the article ‘Hypertension’ on this website.