GET YOUR WALKING BOOST ON
Happy, healthy, resilient: how a walk boosts every system in your body – and walking 1000 miles can transform your health.
IT TAKES ABOUT an hour a day to hit 1000 miles in 12 months – and that’s a dose of exercise which has become one of the most-studied in science. The results are uniformly striking: walking isn’t just pleasurable, safe, accessible, a great way of socialising, of connecting with nature and toning your bum, it’s the perfect exercise. Almost as if we’ve evolved to do it above all else...
Eyes
IN 1 WALK Your ciliary (focusing) muscles relax as you look further ahead, releasing tension; your whole eye benefits from the workout of switching between near and far objects.
IN 1000 MILES Your daily walk has lowered the risk of developing glaucoma by 73%, a serious eye condition that afflicts one in 50 (one in 10 in the over 75s) and which can lead to blindness.
Digestion
IN 1 WALK Your metabolism, gut motility and flora, and elimination of toxins, begin to increase.
IN 1000 MILES Your insulin levels have dropped, and your muscles’ sensitivity to it increased, meaning you burn energy more efficiently and fat more readily. Your risk of obesity and colorectal cancer have been cut in half; Type 2 diabetes by 60%.
Joints
IN 1 WALK You feel looser due to the release of lubrication in your joints; blood flow increases to your cartilage, helping cushion the ends of your bones.
IN 1000 MILES Your range of motion is greater, your chance of injury and arthritis lower. Synovial fluid – nature’s lubricating antiinflammatory – is oiling your hips, knees and ankles, while increased muscle has taken pressure off your joints. For every pound you’ve lost, four pounds less pressure is being exerted on your joints.
Brain
IN 1 WALK Each step sends a pressure wave through your arteries that helps regulate and increase the supply of blood to the brain, boosting clear thinking, optimism and alertness. Endorphins and other neurotransmitters start to flow, making walking as effective as medication for mild to moderate depression and anxiety.
IN 1000 MILES Your circulation is stronger, levels of endorphins higher, stress hormones lower, oxygenation richer and you feel better rested, more optimistic, more capable. You’ve cut your risk of stroke by a third and you’re twice as resistant to depression. You’ve reduced the risk of suffering Alzheimers in later life in half too.
Heart
IN 1 WALK Your heart rate rises and blood vessels dilate, supplying more oxygen and nutrients to your body and fortifying your heart.
IN 1000 MILES You’ve halved your risk of suffering a heart attack in your 50s and 60s; fought off heart disease twice as effectively as running. Your cholesterol, blood pressure and vascular stiffness are all lower. You’ve added five years to your life expectancy.
Lungs
IN 1 WALK Your lungs expand, and the more oxygen-rich breath you draw causes your capillaries to dilate and exchange waste gases for fresh more easily.
IN 1000 MILES Decades of gradual aerobic capacity decline have been wound back, potentially giving a 50-year-old the lungs of their 20-year-old self.
Bones
IN 1 WALK Bones experience five times your weight in force when you walk – sending immediate signals to build strength and density.
IN 1000 MILES Fed by walking and Vitamin D from sunlight, your bones are stronger and less prone to injury and osteoporosis. And unlike aerobics or gym work, walking boosts bone density in spine and pelvis – reducing the chances of hip fracture by 50%.
Skin
IN 1 WALK It takes just 10 minutes’ exposure to sunlight for your body to synthesise enough Vitamin D to start strengthening your bones, and boost immunity to harms from Covid to cancer.
IN 1000 MILES Walking has enhanced the inner layer of collagen that makes skin supple and resilient, and rejuvenated its mitochondria – your skin’s army of anti-ageing organelles. Walking as little as nine minutes daily between March and September is enough to sustain sufficient Vitamin D levels throughout the whole of the winter, boosting your immunity.
Muscles
IN 1 WALK Every muscle, tendon and ligament of your leg is in play, summoning the body’s resources and becoming stronger. The rhythm of walking puts you in a state of ‘muscular meditation’, which allows your mind to empty and awareness to grow.
IN 1000 MILES Your walking has resulted in better strength, balance, tone and coordination; less chance of back pain; it’s prevented muscle wastage (something over 60s can’t get back), triggered cells’ anti-ageing processes and even helped repair DNA.