Brisk walking is one of the best activities ever: walking at a fast pace proves to be a panacea for our body and mind. A few minutes a day are enough to get extraordinary results! On World Physical Activity Day, let’s find out why we should start dedicating ourselves to this type of exercise
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There is nothing better than a good walk to keep us healthy. Or maybe yes: one fast walk. If practiced consistently, this physical activity brings a series of surprising benefits to the body and mind. The advantage is that it has no particular contraindications, so practically everyone can do it (except for example those suffering from metatarsalgia or plantar fasciitis). All you need are comfortable shoes and clothing and a little goodwill to get started!
In addition to being the ideal activity for those who want to lose weight, it helps prevent heart disease, fight stress and strengthen our immune defences. In short, a real therapy. Let’s find out all the positive effects confirmed by numerous scientific studies.
Read also: Power walking: is high-intensity walking really better than traditional walking?
A panacea for the heart
Brisk walking is good for the heart. According to an American research, which appeared last year in AGS Journal, supporting a pace of 3 km per hour or more can prevent heart failure. Researchers looked at more than 25,000 women aged 50 to 79, over a period of about 17 years, and found that those who walked at a brisk pace of more than 3km per hour had a 34% lower risk. of heart failure.
According to another recent study, published in the specialist journal JAMA, walking speed is much more important than the number of steps we take. Scholars have demonstrated that subjects who have a pace of more than 80 steps per minute reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems by as much as 80%.
Brisk walking would be able to lengthen life, as confirmed by leading health authorities Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners, according to which brisk walking for 10 minutes every day “can reduce the risk of premature death by 15%”.
Read also: Walking: even just 6,000 steps a day are enough to halve the risk of heart attack, confirms in a new study
The perfect activity to lose weight and prevent diabetes
If you weigh 60 kilos and walk briskly for about ten minutes, you will burn about 50 calories. Walking even once a day for a week would allow for burn 350 calories but of course, if we take more short walks every day – let’s assume 3 walks of 10 minutes – we can burn 1050 a week. So brisk walking, associated with a healthy and balanced diet, proves to be the perfect activity to keep fit and lose weightor, helping us to stave off the nightmare of type 2 diabetes.
Several scientific studies have shown that fasted exercise increases fat burning during and after training. Walking before breakfast, even if only for 30 minutes, therefore allows us to draw on fat reservesburning more than at other times of the day.
The beneficial effects on the mind
Those who walk constantly can notice a series of benefits even on a mental level. Regular walks, especially outdoor ones, bring real improvements in this regard. Many scientific studies have shown that walking or general physical activity can help prevent anxiety and depression.
Furthermore, brisk walking also helps us prevent neurodegenerative diseases. This correlation is confirmed by an interesting research published last year in JAMA Neurology and conducted on a group of people aged between 40 and 79 years. The study in question showed that taking 3,800 to 9,800 steps each day can reduce 25% risk of cognitive decline, thus preventing diseases such as l’Alzheimer.
Finally, walking fast helps stimulate our creativity. According to research, which appeared a couple of years ago in Scientific Reports magazine, if you are looking for creative ideas and want to activate your imagination, you should simply walk more or even just perform some moderate physical exercise every day. An experiment involving 80 healthy adults found that those who exercised had more brilliant ideas than those who led a sedentary lifestyle.
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