Walking Can Help Reduce the Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases!

How often in a day do you actually walk around? When your commute mainly consist of getting inside a car and then have someone drive you to your office plus if you never actually make use of your gym membership from way back when, more often than not you rarely get to actually use your feet to their full potential.

Walking rarely gets the spotlight it deserves. Who would have thought something as humble as walking yourself to a luncheon meeting 5 blocks away, or even just going to the toilet between breaks can actually help you reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases!

Compared to running or jogging, walking has less risk for injury so it’s actually more frequently suggested by medical practitioner. When you walk, your joints only sustain 3 – 4 times your body weight, meanwhile during running they have to sustain up to 8 times your own body weight.

Just to give you the idea, walking slowly with less than 3 km/hour of speed can burn calories up to 58 calories/hour. So, if you’re heading to the office with public transport that requires extra walking to get to the bus stop or to get yourself a taxi, there’s a possibility that you can burn even more calories!

Calories burned when walking with a normal speed of 3 km/hour can get within a range of 100 – 200 calories. Total calories burned are depending on your height and body weight. To accurately measure this, you can go to the nearest fitness center to get the nutritionist do all the calculation for you. There’s also a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Calculator that you can find online nowadays.

You might notice that the numbers look insignificant, but don’t judge them by the seemingly negligible figures! The focus here is not to burn as much calories as possible. Even just walking more everyday can reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases. Physical activity, however little, can have a great effect on the wellbeing of your heart. Walking is one of the milder physical activities that can keep your heart healthy. If you walk routinely with constant tempo and distance, you’re at least doing something to prevent any cardiovascular diseases!

So, still think there’s nothing much walking can give you? Think again!

First published in www.fimela.com. Translated and edited by Gold’s Gym Indonesia.