Walking! A BASIS OF HEALTHY LIFE

 

Walking is very crucial and beneficial to maintain good health. Our body and mind attain balance by walking. Walking on a regular basis keeps our body and mind active. The mind can be balanced and healthy by the healthy and active body; and we know that a healthy mind and body does not fall prey to any disease  easily. Health experts highly recommend regular walking to maintain good health for a long period of time. Morning walk is especially a blessing for physical and mental health. In addition to being good exercise, it helps the absorption of calcium and vit D in the body. 

Many sports physicians suggest walking 6000 steps is must to be healthy and fit. Health survey indicated that walking can bring down the expenses on health by 330 dollars per year, which is close to 25000 rupees per year. In earlier times walking was a daily routine for everyone's life, but nowadays not adults nor children walk much.  According to statistical data from the 1970-80s 66 % of kids used to go to school walking, while today this has come down to 13 to 10 %. This is one of the major reason that kids falling sick more often than earlier. 

It is so unfortunate that walking is not so popular these days. People regard walking as undignified and prefer to show off their wealth by moving on two wheeler and cars. Some research has shown that walking3 to 5 hours a week increases the life expectancy of cancer patients by 50%. Walking for 90 minutes in a week has been found to increase life expectancy among prostate cancer patients by 40 to 50%. The risk of colon cancer has been found to be reduced by 31% in women who walk regularly. 

Furthermore, research indicates that people who walk 6 to 9 miles per week significantly reduce their old age problems like Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Dementia is a disease where a person loses his memory and cognitive abilities tend to reduce. Affected person needs more and more support or help from others even for their daily activities. It has been found that daily walking is useful for building up nervous and cognitive function in such people.  

Many brain studies show that regular walking helps in increasing the size of the hippocampus inside the brain which deals with memory. Whereas a sedentary lifestyle reduces its size which affects the memory. Walking in the morning or evening stimulates neuropeptides called endorphin which aids relaxation to the body and mind, helps in curing anxiety and mental irritation. 

Walking is a good exercise to reduce the risk of heart diseases. 3o minutes of walking relieves stress, helps control cholesterol and blood pressure. A study done on geriatric population stated that men and women who are 65 years or older, the risk of heart disease was lower among those who walked regularly for 4 hours in a week. 

As we get old, muscles and bones if our body tend to get weak. Regular habit of walking can help in strengthening the bones. It has been shown that walking helps to maintain bone density, as a result of which risk of fracture, osteoporosis and injury reduces. It also helps in relieving aches of muscles and bones. 

Walking helps in maintaining optimum metabolism. Sedentary lifestyle leads to many diseases likeDiabets, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity. Regular walking aids in controlling blood sugar,blood pressure and also helps in reducing susceptibility to type2 diabetes. 

The healthy habit of morning walk boosts brain alertness and intelligence. It helps in maintaining the adequate supply of glucose and oxygen to the brain which aids in accurate and prompt functioning of the brain. Walking reduces the risk of heart attacks by reducing the level of  LDL cholesterol which is the main cause for the  narrowing of the arteries leading to heart problems. Walking acts as the stimulator for the circulatory and nervous system to maintain optimum health by secreting hormonal and biochemical markers for keeping healthy. 

Walking is beneficial to strengthen our immune system. 3o minutes of walk every day improves the function of the B & T lymphocytes (types of white blood cell) and this helps to fight any infection or disease and remain healthy. 

Thus, the habit of walking especially in morning or evening hours is very beneficial for mental and physical health. Great saints like Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Aacharya, Lokmanya Tilak, Vinoba Bhave also have the same habit of walking regularly. We also must adopt walking as a routine to daily regime to be healthy mentally and physically.