In the health awareness calendar Walking Month takes place every May and health advice is to encourage more people to get out and walk daily regardless of age.

Often walking is not considered as a particularly ‘good’ form of exercise but it actually has numerous benefits for our body and mind.  So, if you are mobile, walking is a good choice to keep active and healthy.

The good news is that the latest data shows that people are walking more often compared to 2021, with average trips and miles walked above pre-pandemic levels.

2023 research showed that 77.4% of adults walked once per month, but only 42.9% walked three times per week, for any purpose.

What are the benefits of walking?

Physical health benefits

  • Helps you to maintain a healthy weight
  • keep your muscles and bones healthy
  • improve your heart and cardiovascular fitness
  • maintain good balance – very important as we age to help us avoid falls

It can also reduce your risk of developing certain health conditions, including:

  • cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressureand stroke
  • type 2 diabetes
  • sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea
  • some cancers such as bladder and breast cancer

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) advises that ‘moderate intensity aerobic activity’ (eg. walking, gardening and climbing stairs) is the most effective type of activity for maintaining a healthy heart.

Aerobic activity is described as a ‘repetitive rhythmic exercise involving large muscle groups such as legs, shoulders and arms’.

Moderate intensity activities should make a person feel warmer, breathe harder and make their heart beat faster than usual, but, they should still be able to have a conversation.

Mental health benefits

Exercise releases feel-good hormones – endorphins – and studies have shown it can:

  • improve your mood
  • reduce stress and anxiety
  • improve memory and problem-solving
  • help you sleep better
  • Increase your energy
  • help you to cope with difficult times
  • improve your confidence and self-esteem
  • reduce the risk of depression

Do I really need to walk 10,000 steps every day?

According to GP Dr Zoe Williams, who promotes physical activity at the Royal College of GPs, we need to be focusing more on speed than the number of steps.

She advises: “What is most important is the speed at which you walk,”  Strolling your 10,000 steps won’t be as beneficial as a few 10 minute bursts of brisk walking which raises the heart rate.

In 2023, a large study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that 11 minutes of brisk walking – at moderate-intensity – could prevent one in 10 early deaths worldwide.

So how can we tell if our walking is enough to improve our health?

Williams explains: “If you walk briskly, your heart rate is faster, you breathe faster and you may feel a bit sweaty. You should still be able to hold a conversation without being out of breath. We call this moderate activity.”

If you have any health issues with breathing difficulties etc, please be mindful of how you walk and take the advice of a health professional to work out what is the right pace for you.

To help you get into the habit of taking regular exercise try some simple tips to get you started:

  • When you go shopping, park further away from your destination – this will even work in your supermarket car park and you can push your trolley back to the car rather than having to carry heavy loads
  • try to use the stairs rather than the lift in offices, car parks and shopping centres
  • get into the habit of a walk around the block or up and down your road, at the same time every day – before or after work as time allows
  • join up with some friends to give you an incentive to walk – does someone you know (eg a neighbour) take their dog for a regular walk that you could join in?
  • get off the bus one stop earlier than you need to and walk the rest of the way
  • many people now work ‘remotely’ but you can still give yourself a lunch hour and take some exercise in the garden or around the block.  If you can include some ‘ups and downs’ (eg steps/stairs) so much the better.

Remember walking is free, easy, and convenient too. It can also be a great way to explore your local area and is better for the environment than driving or taking public transport.