3 Ways Walking Works for You
We spend most of our lives these days seated. Our sedentary, forward-leaning daily routines contribute to muscle and joint restrictions, including in the hip flexors, chest, and upper back.
Over time, these areas of limited mobility create musculoskeletal imbalances. Ultimately reducing mobility and increasing risk for injury. We can do better beautiful humans!
WALKING is the antidote! Read on to see a few ways that walking can work for you.
1. Walking keeps your body balanced.
Biomechanically speaking, walking is the reverse of sitting at a computer, leaning over children, and hovering over phones. Walking can allow the spine and arms to extend and rotate. The hips can also extend activating muscles on the back of the body.
It is recommended for desk workers to get up and do a 5 minute walk every hour. Not only does it benefit the body but it can support better focus and concentration.
Tip: Set a timer every hour so that you don’t have to remember your hourly movement reminder
2. Walking supports mental health.
Our brains are bombarded by the world around us. Too much information in phones and computers and constant connection with others digitally. Walking is a reset. It's a chance to take a break and let your thoughts simmer down and settle so you're able to see things more clearly. Walking can restore your nervous system to a calmer state. Some therapists use walking in their sessions. Walking involves what psychologists name as bilateral stimulation, or rhythmic movement on alternating sides of the body. This integrates emotion and logic activating both sides of your body and brain. Even walking on a treadmill can offer mental health benefits. Walking has been shown to dramatically reduce cortisol in the body. Having moments that interrupt your usual thought pattern allows you to remember that you're a part of the bigger picture.
3. Walking strengthens your heart and lungs.
Walking isn't the most intense form of aerobic exercise, yet it still checks all the boxes for promoting cardiovascular health. By walking a person is deliberately increasing their heart rate and engaging their cardiovascular system in a meaningful and purposeful way. You can increase your pace, walk up hills, or set the treadmill at an incline. If you feel good, it's working.
With the winter and snow making its way (finally) to us, we can get out and embrace it with some outdoor walks, or simply find that space indoors at a gym. Whatever it is, you deserve it. To feel good. To improve your bodies ability to move.
