According to scientists from the University of San Diego, walking is the best form of physical exercise. As long as you are walking for 30 minutes every day with 100 steps per minute, this can help your health tremendously.
Walking has always been considered a good exercise, but has it ever been considered the "best"? Wouldn't other sports like basketball, rugby, and soccer provide better exercise?
Well according to scientific studies, as long as you are walking consistently each day, it outdoes every other sport. Other sports can still be good exercise, but they are also inconsistent.
Now, you don't want to start speed walking immediately. You want to gradually reach the 100 steps per minute goal once you begin.
The research was done as a group of scientists experimented on 95 men and women walking on a treadmill. The average age of each individual was 32 and none of them had any serious heart condition.
For me personally, walking is as important as ever. My Father experiences high cholesterol and bad heart health and the Doctor gave him only one subscription: daily walking.
To give my Father incentive to walk, I offered to go with him each day. I feared for my Dad's health, so I wanted to make sure he kept walking just as the Doctor ordered.
As we kept walking, I found myself starting to enjoy it more and more. I started to have more energy and I just felt healthier each morning I woke up.
Even though the Doctor ordered my Dad to walk, I found that it was helping me just as much! I soon realized that the Doctor knew exactly what he was talking about.
As I researched more, I learned that walking helps more than just with your physical health, it also helps you mentally as well! Science has shown that walking helps with memory, learning skills, and concentration.
There are many different types of walking. For example, there are bushwalking, racewalking, weight-walking, hillwalking, volksmarching, Nordic walking and hiking on long-distance paths.
Not all of these types of walking are suggested for the faint of heart, but they are all good exercise nonetheless.
Hiking is considered walking, although it mostly applies to walking in the nature. This is just as good, especially since hiking involves many inclines.
The unfortunate thing about walking is that it's a dying sport. The department of Transportation reported that from 1995-2005, walking decreased by 16% in the United Kingdom.
Since there has been a decline in the number of people walking, several different government sectors are trying to promote walking. These sectors include: health, transport, environment, schools, sport & recreation and urban design.
As new cities do their Urban development, there has been an increased emphasis put on making pedestrian friendly areas. They are doing their best to encourage people to walk more.
I know that back in my hometown, the city started building all sorts of walking paths around beautiful nature. How could people not want to walk through there?
Now walking isn't just for health, but it's also a common mode of transport. Ask any college student in the U.S...they are probably walking almost everywhere.
Now of course, there are those who take the admonition of walking too far. There is indeed competitive walking.
There is nothing inherently wrong with competitive walking, but it also isn't the exact form of exercise that the Doctor is recommending.
Competitive walking has become so popular, that there are huge events to promote it. Those who participate have their walking motions down to an exact science.
Although participating in walking is overall down from where it once was, it's good to see that there are those in both the private and public sectors who are trying to get the word out.
We need good people everywhere to promote the idea of walking. It's healthy, it's fun, it's good for your mind, and it'll offer you longer life.
And of course, there's my Dad's Doctor who is doing his job. He's promoting the most healthy and physical exercise there is.
Author Resource:-
Terry Daniels has a PHD in exercise science and has written hundreds of articles relating to walking and cardiovascular health. He competitively walks every day. He recommends health rider for yourexercise equipment needs.
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