People all over the world are becoming more and more aware of the importance of exercise. After all, it’s one of the keys to living a long and healthy life. While running, lifting weights, and other traditional forms of exercise do have their place, they can’t quite beat out walking as an overall health booster. When done in moderation, walking can have many benefits that you might not expect. For instance, did you know that taking 7500 steps every day can…? If you want to learn more about the surprising health benefits of walking 7500 steps every day, keep reading below.
Health Benefits of Walking 7,500 Steps a Day
According to the American Heart Association, the average adult should walk 7,500 steps each day in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevent heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and other serious health conditions including:
- Obesity
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Cancer
- Low endurance
- Loss of Appetite
It is not as simple as just getting off the couch every once in a while. Though; there are actually several proven benefits of walking 7,500 steps each day that you may not have considered before. Here are a few surprising health benefits of walking 7,500 steps a day from the American Heart Association.
Physical Activity Keeps Your Immune System Strong
Many people walk every day with no idea that they are strengthening their immune system. Don’t just take our word for it. Scientists at Rush University in Chicago found that women who worked out regularly had stronger immune systems than sedentary women.
More specifically, they were better able to fight off infection-causing bacteria and viruses. Other studies have shown similar findings that physical activity boosts your immune response. So when you are walking more than 7000 steps a day you are helping strengthen your immune system.
This is great news if you or someone you know has recently been sick because it means you can help yourself get better faster by exercising. And if you are not currently sick but plan on travelling soon, working out could be a good way to boost your immunity before heading overseas.
Your best bet is resistance training, lifting weights will help increase your natural killer cells. And although running doesn’t increase natural killer cell counts, exercise does appear to lower your risk of upper respiratory tract infections That is because moderate exercise increases white blood cell production which helps ward off illness caused by bacteria and viruses in our bodies. If nothing else though getting outside will always do good things for your body.
It Improves Brain Function
A study from researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found that taking regular walks can slow age-related memory loss.
Older people who walked frequently were less likely to experience declines in their mental abilities over time. Also, people with mild cognitive impairment (i.e., those who have minor problems remembering recent events or names) and walkers had fewer memory issues after six months than non-walkers did.
Researchers aren’t exactly sure why walking improves brain function. In fact, they suspect it has something to do with increased blood flow.
Be careful though: If you start walking more and driving less as a result, it might put you at higher risk for traffic accidents.
It Can Reduce Stress and Anxiety
We are all familiar with that sense of dread and panic we get when faced with an impending deadline. Most of us have to work through those feelings and buckle down to make it. Research shows that walking can be very effective in helping to relieve that stress.
A recent study found that people who walked for 30 minutes three times per week saw significant reductions in their anxiety levels as well as their perceived levels of stress.
An easy way to turn the daily activity into a low-stress form of exercise is by setting your phone’s step goal a little higher than normal. While you’re walking more steps each day you might notice yourself feeling less stressed out at work or home.
It Boosts Heart Health
A study from the Harvard School of Public Health found that those who walked at least 5,000 steps per day were 28 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease.
And people who walked at least 10,000 steps were 51 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease compared to people who walked fewer than 5,000 steps each day.
That is because walking reduces risk factors for heart disease such as obesity and high blood pressure. It also improves your body’s ability to use insulin and lowers your cholesterol levels. All that means you are at lower risk for heart disease which is the leading cause of death in America.
It Helps Prevent Depression
A Mayo Clinic study found that walking an average of just 7,500 steps each day could prevent depression. This is because physical activity releases endorphins, a chemical in your brain that elevate your mood. And if you are not depressed, you can’t be stressed out and anxious either.
Boost your daily step count to help improve your mental health and keep depression at bay.
It Helps Manage Weight
The number on your scale is determined by more than just genetics. Exercise such as walking burns calories and when you burn more calories than you consume, weight loss is inevitable.
In addition to helping you lose weight:
- Regular exercise helps improve your mood which can result in improved productivity at work and less stress at home.
- It also improves muscle tone, helping maintain an overall healthy body size while losing excess fat stores or bulking up with lean muscle mass.
When it comes to the health benefits of walking 7500 steps a day most physicians will tell their patients they don’t get enough physical activity. So it’s time to put those concerns aside and start taking a walk around the neighbourhood today.
Many people think that we should walk at least 10,000 steps a day for good health. Which is not necessary. Although walking 10,000 steps a day is often touted as a way to stay healthy, many studies suggest that we don’t really need to walk that much.
One study published in 2016 in Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging found that adults over 40 who walked just 4,400 steps a day had lower BMI scores than people who walked more than 8,800 steps per day. Walking too much can cause knee or ankle pain. Read more about that Do You Really Need to Walk 10000 Steps a Day?
