I am a big fan of running and walking outdoors. It is a great way to exercise – without buying pricey gym memberships, lifting weights for hours in the same place, being tied to only one location or worrying about expiration date on your gym membership card.
Do not get me wrong. I used to go to the gym twice or three times a week (now I work out at home or outdoors), and both my mind and body were absolutely enjoying a regular work-out. But, walking gives me something extra that the gym does not offer.
Walking outdoors gives me the greatest freedom of choice to spend quality time enjoying the beautiful natural environment of our world without keeping me restrained by the building walls.
How much do I walk?
I have a couple of short walks every day from Monday to Friday.
The first one starts around 7:30 am when I leave my apartment to walk to get to work on foot. It takes around 30 minutes and I arrive at work at 8 am.
After I finish work at 5 pm, I take the same way to come back home. So, I walk for around 1 hour altogether every working day.
In addition, I have a couple of short walks throughout the day, e.g. messing around in my apartment early in the morning when preparing lemon water or a cup of coffee, going out after lunch break to walk around the soccer pitch, or simply going to the bathroom to wash my hands a few times a day.
On the weekends, I usually go out with my baby boy to have a walk. We go together for a short walk around the community where we currently live.
Benefits of walking
I like walking so much because it gives me precious time to think about my life, a quick chance to slow down to observe how the world functions and a great opportunity to connect with incredible nature.
Walking cures many problems:
– Walk, if you want to lose weight and get in shape.
– Walk to spend less money on public transportation.
– Walk to get rid of daily stress at work and feel more relaxed.
– Walking will help you to maintain a healthy body weight by burning calories. The longer you walk, the more calories you burn because the body uses energy for things like breathing, digesting and moving your limbs. The more frequently you breathe, the more energy your body needs to use.
– Without an excessive body weight your blood pressure will regulate. You will feel nice about yourself. Your bones will strengthen. The faster, farther and more frequently you walk, the greater the benefits.
– Walking regularly will benefit your body in many ways. Walkers have less incidents of heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, stroke and cancer.
– People who walk a lot also tend to live longer, get mental health and spiritual benefits.
Why walking slowly becomes unpopular?
These days, I feel like walking seems underrated because people fail to understand how important walking actually is. To the majority of our society, it just does not seem cool at all to walk.
Instead, many people decide to drive their cars, even for short-distance trips like going to a local store in the close neighborhoods, dropping kids off to school in the morning or commuting to work.
“Why should I walk, if I can drive?”, people in many countries around the world tend to say. You may even be one of those people. You may think that driving shortens your trip, is more comfortable during the cold weather or even increases your social status.
So, at the end of the day, you will think that you are not only less tired but you also have more time to watch your favorite TV shows. In fact, people who do not exercise regularly, usually feel more tired than people who are physically fit.
But, remember that majority of the people may not always be right as they tend to focus on only short-term pleasures instead of considering long-term health benefits.
Let’s walk to stay healthy and prevent this great activity from being dead.
