And the Award for "Best Exercise" goes to....

If there's one exercise/health habit that I think far outshines all the others in terms of immediate and long term health benefits; it's the simple act of walking!

Millions of studies have been done concluding the positive health outcomes of walking, relative to specific conditions including; sleep, depression, hypertension, cognitive decline, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, menopause symptom…to name but a few.

But here’s why it’s my personal top rated exercise:

1. I can do it whenever I like; it’s free, it’s easy, and I can easily incorporate it into my day (rather than setting time aside to do it).

2. I don’t need to worry about getting injured from it (or it making my other niggles any worse); it’s low impact and pretty much risk free.

3. It helps my mood; if I’m feeling stressed or anxious I head out for a walk and it sorts me right out.

4. It help me to think; if I’ve got a problem to solve or ideas that I want to generate, heading out for a walk usually results in me coming home with the solution or idea

5. It helps me to sleep better; my morning walk allows me to get my internal body clock on track and I definitely notice the difference in my sleep quality on the days that I don't walk as much.

6. I feel way more energetic throughout the day when I’ve done my morning walk and have, in general, walked more.

7. I use it to keep my baseline fitness up; as an exercise it innervates the most amount of musculature, with the least amount of effort/stress, and serves to maintain my stamina and endurance.

8. It helps me to look after my long term health; walking is a bone building activity and so reduces my risk of osteoporosis. It’s also been shown to reduce the risk of other chronic conditions high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease.

9. It helps me and my family thrive; our family walks serve as means of connecting us and for maintaining/enabling good health (walking enables flow of blood, lymph and electricity throughout the body which is super important for overall health and immunity).

10. It makes me happy! It fires up all my happy hormones and generally leaves me feeling good.

I try and walk every morning, before the kids get up, for at least 20 minutes. It sets me up really well for the rest of the day because I'm not going from zero to 100 first thing in the morning; it provides me with a calm start to my day (which benefits everyone....for sure, I'm a much nicer mum when my kids wake up).

I also try and walk as much as I can throughout the day; it serves to give me mini breaks and generate all the benefits outlined above.

Generally speaking, there is no specific formula for how much and when you should walk; I just say the more the better!

E x

P.S Parents out there? read my article of Kids and why walking is so important for them too https://www.healthbeyondme.com/post/get-your-kids-walking