Did you know hips swivel approximately 2000 times when you walk one mile? When done correctly walking invigorates your entire body without stress. Its benefits range from stimulating creativity and calming nerves, to conditioning coronary arteries to open while gently strengthening the heart muscle.
While people have been walking for thousands of years, in late the practice of walking has been down-played as banal and too easy to be counted as a worthwhile exercise as opposed to harder work-outs that yield more sweat showing more vigor and effort.
According to the late Dr. Simon J. Wikler, walking is a primal and normal activity few people enjoy, and those who do may not be walking correctly to get the full benefits. He believed since the invention of automobiles, trains and other motorized transportation walking became less important. This Industrial age created more prosperity and with it came opportunities to wear fashionable clothes and shoes because of shorter distances one would have to walk to their destination. However, this lifestyle also leads to weak feet from reduced activity and subsequently, disinterest in walking.
Famous Presidents, inventors, and writers have been known to take regular Constitutional walks to clear their head. According to an article written in BBC.com June 12, 2017 Albert Einstein enjoyed a mile and a half walk daily, “to introspect and work out complex problems in his head”.
Albert Einstein walking
Others who were known for walking include Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche who considered walking a necessary pre-condition for his writing stating, “all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking”. Pyotr Tchaikovsky would start composing his pieces after taking long walks and Charles Dickens was known to take twenty-mile long speed walks in the middle of the night to relieve anxiety. More modern and prominent figure, Steve Jobs has often been spotted walking while engaging in deep conversation.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Walking as a rhythmic, uninterrupted exercise is highly beneficial and conditions every system in the body. Make walking your first choice of exercise and all other exercises secondary for better health.
Here’s how:
- Keep a good pace for 13-15 minutes to begin (more time can be added gradually).
- Keep your chin parallel to the ground and look straight ahead.
- Allow your arms to move while you walk. Keep hands out of pockets and do not carry anything.
- Stay off your cell phone.
- Walk alone or with someone who can keep the same pace as you.
- Keep the dog at home. Make walking the dog a separate event.
- Walk on even paths, one without obstacles, and in places you will not have to stop for traffic.
- Create a good rhythm and do not stop until the exercise is over.
- Wear clothing to accommodate inclement weather.
- In the end you should feel slightly winded and sweaty.
Walking benefits the entire body. If you enjoy running, as I do, make this a separate activity to engage in after your feet and body have become conditioned as one of the main objectives to walking is to open coronary arteries for better blood flow to the heart as opposed to running first which may lead to complications when the heart becomes too muscular to accept flow of blood, a common occurrence with runners.
Enjoy your walk!
To read more about keeping feet healthy read Geraldine Villeneuve’s book
Put Your Best Feet Forward: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Foot Pain with Structural Reflexology®
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