Walking-The Best Medicine For Many Ailments

Everyday we hear about some new ailment being discussed in the media. The medical fraternity gives it a new medical term and research begins to find out more about the condition. The air that we breathe itself is contaminated and the water that we drink is not as pure as it used to be in the earlier days. We attribute several reasons for the diseases that are caused both inside and outside our homes. Whatever be the reason, we, on our part, need to take a few precautions to get rid of or to keep away serious health disorders.

Walking is not new to us. From time immemorial, people have been walking and encouraging the others around them to do the same so as to derive the benefits of better health. Walking can be said to be both preventive and curative. It can give you relief from many common illnesses such as high blood pressure or hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, cholesterol, obesity and many more.

Walking is the best form of exercise to keep yourself fit and fine even if you don't have any health issues. Walking strengthens your heart and lungs; helps in blood circulation; keeps your muscles and bones healthier; gives you more energy and makes you feel relaxed; decreases the risk of diabetes; in short, walking can be said to increase one's life span.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is called the 'silent killer' because it can go unnoticed for several years. It is common knowledge that with a high blood pressure the heart has to work many times harder in order to pump blood to various parts of the body. This progressive effort on the part of the heart makes it enlarged and the chances of kidney failure, heart attack and atherosclerosis (fat deposits on the walls of the arteries constrict the arteries blocking flow of blood) are very high. So it is very important to monitor the blood pressure from time to time and take steps to control it.

Apart from medication, taking a good diet with less sodium and reducing weight by regular physical activity such as walking are advised by doctors to control hypertension.

There can be no better exercise than a walk preferably early in the morning to reduce the stiffness caused by rheumatoid arthritis. I can affirm this from my personal experience. People suffering from rheumatoid arthritis wake up with pain and stiffness all over the body. Walking gives you an incredibly wonderful relief that is instant once you go for a walk every morning. I would not recommend a brisk walk for arthritis sufferers, for it may sometimes aggravate the pain though the stiffness leaves you instantly once you start moving your feet and arms. So a normal walking speed can be followed but make sure that you walk at least two kilometers that would take about 25 to 30 minutes.

This time is worth spending everyday for a whole day of pain-free activity. You can concentrate better on anything you do because you feel flexible and lighter. Weight reduction is another important requirement for relief from rheumatoid arthritis, so walking helps in this too. Walking improves your mood to a great extent, so you can manage the stress caused by your health condition.

Walking helps to reduce a person's weight and stress levels, thereby reducing your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol). Any physical activity can help in this direction but walking is the simplest activity that can be done by everyone, so is recommended.

Relationship between blood cholesterol and heart disease is a crucial factor as reduction in cholesterol level by 1 % results in 2% decrease in the possibility of a heart attack. According to the US National Cholesterol Education Program, risk of a heart disease is low if your total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL; bad cholesterol is less than 100mg/dL and good cholesterol is more than 60mg/dL.

Obesity is a major risk factor that is responsible for many serious disorders. Statistics reveal that an average of 14.1% of the world population is obese of which the US tops the chart with 30.6% followed by Mexico (24.2%) and the UK (23%). There are many reasons for obesity, life style, food habits and lack of proper sleep to name a few.

Obesity needs to be handled carefully and adequate steps taken to reduce weight so as to improve one's health. Physical activity like walking and swimming can help in reducing the weight to some extent. Walking regularly and other physical activity will help in reducing the fat accumulated in the body. It also helps in building muscles and increases the capability of the body to burn more calories.

It is very important for obese people to chart out a rigorous plan to bring down their weight for it helps not only in reducing their body weight but also decreases the risk of contracting many serious health problems.

Walking is the best form of exercise for both the normal and the over-weight people. Just because you don't have any serious health problems doesn't mean that you don't need to walk. You need to exercise your body for it to stay healthy and reduce the risk of several major diseases. Both men and women need to take it upon themselves to build a stronger society by focusing on their own health and improving it. Let's all walk our way to good health.