How does walking strengthen bones?
Even though walking is a low impact form of exercise it helps to strengthen and tone your body. Because it’s a weight-bearing movement, your body has to work against gravity. That gentle stress signals your bones to get stronger and denser over time. Walking helps to wake up those bone-building cells, especially around your hips and lower body, which can help lower the risk of osteoporosis and fractures as you age.
What makes walking especially powerful is how consistent you can be with it. You don’t need special gear, a gym membership, or a perfect schedule. All that’s required are a pair of shoes and a bit of time.
The steady, repeatable movement is what your bones love most. They respond to routine, not intensity. So even a daily 20–30 minute walk can create a meaningful difference over the long haul, especially if you’re someone who prefers gentle, sustainable habits over high-impact workouts.
This is a topic for another day, but do realize there is science and research that supports the fact that as we get older we don’t have to do intense exercise to stay fit and healthy. Over a certain age and high impact actually puts stress on the body and can be working against our goals.
If you’re just starting out, walking may be all you need to start to get into better shape. As you get more fit, consider adding weight lifting exercises and stretching in addition to your daily walks to continue to get stronger and help develop strong muscles and bones.
If we keep our bones and muscles healthy, we are going to have less pain and be able to stay more active. That’s a simple statement, but for those living with daily, chronic, pain – it’s huge!
What are health benefits of walking?
There are a lot of good reasons to go for a walk. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and most important it’s good for your health. One of my favorite things to do for exercise is to walk with a friend and catch up on her life. It makes the walk go so fast, taking the pain out of exercise!
So what exactly are the health benefits of walking? I hope this article convinces you that heading out for a walk each day is a great idea and that it motivates you to stick to your walking schedule until you start to see results. I need the motivation as much as you do. Guess I better call a friend!
Walking Gets You Outside In The Fresh Air and Sunshine.
Yes the sun is good for you. Just don’t forget your sunscreen.
No matter how fast or slow you walk, walking gets you outside and in the fresh air. This alone will make you feel better as your body absorbs the oxygen and sunshine. Both are important for your health and well-being.
You will find the air quality outside, particularly if you go for a walk on the beach or in a park, will be much better than the air inside your house. Of course, the sunshine outside will help your body product all the Vitamin D it needs.
How Can Walking Help Get To A Healthy Weight?
This is proven, as long as you aren’t eating more calories than you need (most of the time).
Walking particularly at a quick pace and doing it regularly can help you get to and then maintain a healthy weight. Yes, you still need to watch what you eat and aim for a healthy diet, but walking can be another tool to help you drop those extra pounds.
The nice thing about walking when you’re overweight is that you burn a lot of calories, even on short and slow walks, simply because you’re carrying so much weight around with you. As you start to lose the weight, your overall strength and endurance increases, allowing you to walk longer, further, and faster.
How Can Walking Improve Balance And Coordination?
It can be more of a challenge as you grow older, but really is good for any age.
As you walk, particularly when walking over rougher terrain, you’re also working on your sense of balance and coordination. Just getting in the habit of going for a daily walk will help. But you can work even more on your sense of balance by moving your head around. Turn your head to the right and left as you walk for a count of 30. Then move your head up and down for a count of 30. If you do these simple exercises once or twice as you walk each day you’ll get even more benefit.
How Can Walking Boost Mood and Fight Depression?
There’s a lot of stress, anxiety and depression in our world today, and that is sad. Something as simple as walking can help change that. If you know someone who is challenged with any of these in his or her life right now, call and suggest a walk. It will benefit both of you!
Last but not least, the exercise of walking releases endorphins that will help lift your mood and can even reduce depression. These endorphins can completely change your mood, and isn’t so much more fun to be happy and have a little more energy than sad and/or tired. I hope you will give walking every day a try. If it’s spring, summer or even fall right now, no excuses. Get out there and walk! Winter can be more challenging if it is snowy or icy or just too cold. In that case, find an indoor place to walk so that you don’t get out of the routine of daily walking.
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Did You Know:
If you need some extra help with stability when you’re walking, we wrote about a walking stick that we personally purchased here: Walking Stick Review.
The natural nutrition brand we recommend here on the blog are products we have personally used for the past 43+ years. We are not medical professionals. We are on a personal health journey to live younger, energized and healthy longer.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.