With a miserable 2020 behind you, why not look towards making positive changes in 2021 by joining a walking club. It could transform your life!
Numerous scientific studies reveal that walking has a huge number of benefits. It seems walking can help everything from weight loss, boosting your energy levels and vitality, helping you live longer and a raft-load of health benefits.
Walking clubs generally meet one day a week and you don’t have to be a member to join. Newcomers are always made to feel welcome. Ramblers are very open and accessible people.
Joining a walking club is also recommended by the National Institute of Aging – but you don’t have to wait to grow old to enjoy these benefits.
Meet New People
Most walking clubs have their regular ramblers but new people are joining all the time. If you are the social type, you could speak to a different person every week.
What’s more, many people know many things, so you get to broaden your knowledge. You learn something new every time you go for a walk.
Boost Your Immune System
If coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s to take care of your immune system. A growing body of research reveals walking reduces stress levels and boosts immunity.
Researchers discovered that people that partake in regular exercise are less likely to experience upper respiratory symptoms such as coughing, sore throat, or runny nose.
Another study found exercising at least three days per week can reduce the risk of catching a common cold by as much as 26% over a year.
Enjoy The Health Benefits of Nature
Spending time in nature also helps to lower stress and give the immune system a boost. Moreover, walking in nature helps protect you from a wide range of debilitating diseases including depression, diabetes, obesity, ADHD, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and others.
The health benefits of nature have long been known in the far east. In Japan is a culture known as shinrin-yoku – forest bathing. The only thing involved is opening your five sense to the sight, smell, sounds, taste and touch of nature.
Improve Your Fitness
When you join a walking club you will be walking long distances. Sometimes they even organise multi-day trekking holidays which are great fun. However, to be able to walk four or five days on the bounce you need to improve your fitness.
Whilst walking long-distance once a week will improve your fitness, it will be slow progress. Experts say you should walk at least 7500 steps a week to get the optimum health benefits from walking – that’s about 30-45 minutes depending on the pace.
Of course, the benefits of brisk walking far outweigh a casual stroll. People that walk faster not only improve their fitness but can extend their life by as much as fifteen years.
Brisk walking is also more beneficial to improving your fitness than many other types of exercise. Running, for example, causes impact damage to your bones and muscles.
Why not make walking your New Year’s Resolution and adopt a new lifestyle in 2021. It can only be for the better.
