The Benefits of Walking on Physical Health, Mental Health, & Weight Loss

It’s no question that physical activity has a tremendous positive impact on our health. The type, duration, and intensity of physical activity all determine to what extent that activity improves health.

Often the myth, especially among individuals attempting to lose weight, is that high-intensity exercise is always the answer for weight loss. Our culture has perpetuated this idea that only a daily 5-mile run or 2-hour long heavy weight lift will result in weight loss and better health. While it’s true that endurance running and intense strength training benefit our bodies, these activities are not required daily in order for us to reach a healthy metabolic state. We also fail to realize that frequent intense training, especially if not well planned with diet & recovery, often results in injury. Furthermore, we are trained to believe that one hour of highly intense exercise per day will get the job done, even if we spend the rest of the day sedentary.

The fact of the matter is that high-intensity exercise is not the end-all-be-all for health and weight loss; what Americans tend to lose sight of is the fact that incorporating more physical activity in general into the day is what really contributes to better overall health.

The easiest way to increase physical activity throughout the day is by walking. Walking can serve as low- to moderate- to even high-intensity exercise, depending on speed, duration, and activity skill level. Walking is a protective form of exercise—among all it’s health benefits, which we’ll get to shortly, walking stabilizes and strengthens joints and muscles, rather than something like running which is more impactful on joints and results in more frequent injury.

One of the primary benefits of walking is that it facilitates weight loss. To understand this, we first need to understand the concept of resting metabolic rate. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the rate at which our bodies utilize energy at rest. When we exercise, our metabolic rate increases during that acute period to provide more energy to match the hard work. However, exercise can increase our metabolic rate outside of just that acute period of exercise. If you’re familiar with the phrase “boost metabolism,” this is what we’re referring to. Regular and frequent physical activity increases your RMR over time, meaning that your metabolism is indeed quicker the more you exercise, AKA your body uses up more energy and therefore you can lose weight.

We also should understand the concept of heart rate. The more intensely you exercise, the more work your heart has to do to pump blood throughout your body. There are different heart rate zones depending on exercise intensity that indicate what type of energy source your body is drawing energy from. The higher end of the heart rate spectrum means your body is likely engaging in cardiovascular-based exercise that requires carbohydrates, the quickest form of energy. The middle and lower end of the heart rate spectrum usually indicate that your body is drawing from fat stores to burn energy. For the majority of individuals who walk at a moderate pace, heart rate will usually fall in the “fat burning zone,” where exercise is more intense than rest but not too intense that it burns through carbohydrate stores. Therefore the more walking activity you engage in, the higher your potential for weight loss.

Walking also reduces risks and symptoms of many chronic diseases. Increases in heart rate stimulate blood flow and improve heart functionality and strength because your heart has to work harder during exercise. One meta-analysis found that regular walking (30 minutes 5 days a week) resulted in up to a 19% reduction in CVD risk in both men and women. Another study analyzed cardiovascular mortality, cancer mortality, and all-cause mortality risk in populations who engaged in walking activity. The study found that risk for CVD, cancer, and all-cause mortalities were significantly reduced in individuals who walked regularly. It also found that pace and duration impacted risk—for example, those who walked frequently at a higher-intensity pace had an especially reduced mortality risk.

In addition to improving disease outcomes and aiding in weight loss, walking activity reduces oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can be caused by a number of things, among them poor diet quality, sedentary behaviors, and disease status. Oxidative stress causes inflammation which perpetuates the stress response in the body, leading to weight gain, and can even exacerbate disease states. However, regular physical activity reduces inflammation; a study that analyzed walking & vigorous activity in men and women found that walking, independently of vigorous activity, was able to significantly reduce inflammation in the body.

So far we’ve seen some amazing benefits to physical health that walking can provide. But what about mental health? Studies have shown that walking improves mood, sleep, and anxiety & depression symptoms. Outdoor walking provides a change of scenery and a chance for adults to get away from screens and take a break from work or other daily stressors. Walking, as with other exercise, also releases endorphins, which are neurotransmitters that contribute to improved mood. A longitudinal study conducted in older adults found that even light-to-moderate walking significantly improved mental health.

Increasing physical activity in general carries all these same benefits as walking. Walking is the easiest way to increase movement throughout the day. We can start by adding a 10-minute walk to our day and slowly increasing the time to 30 or more minutes, or even dispersing a few 10 minute walks throughout the day. Keeping in mind that pace increase facilitates increased benefits, we definitely want to aim for a higher heart rate during our walking activity to really benefit our health (but let’s also keep in mind that we don’t need our walks to be so intense that they become too hard/unbearable! Again—high intensity is not always the end-all-be-all).

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, more individuals spent time walking outside. I have personally gained an appreciation for outside time and walking since the start of the pandemic, and am now excited to walk everywhere!

Let’s keep encouraging walking now that lockdown is over :)

By Jessica Kaplan