Our bodies are designed for movement and they love walking. Regular walking is beneficial for your health as it can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. It may improve your cholesterol and blood pressure levels, improve sleep and energy levels. 

Walking is great because nearly everyone can do it. You can do it in many different locations, you don’t need specific skills, training or equipment, it is usually free and the difficulty or intensity can be modified to fit each person. 

It can seem daunting to change your habits and do a new form of exercise, but here are some tips to start walking or increase the amount of walking in your week. 

Park further away from the station, workplace, shops or school

Instead of calling or emailing someone in the office - walk to their desk

Instead of meeting a friend for coffee at a cafe - get your coffee to go and walk about while you chat

If on a phone call at work or at home, walk around while you talk

During your lunch break, leave the workplace and go for a walk around the block

Look for opportunities and choose the option with more walking eg avoid the shortcut

Take the stairs up, even 2 flights of stairs is something

Take public transport - when you think about it, you are more likely to do more walking when taking public transport than a car, unless your train stops outside your front door!

Use walking as a stress release instead of your more unhealthy options

Multitask while walking - call a friend for a chat, send some messages,or listen to a podcast you’ve been meaning to listen to for ages

If you’re new to walking or are changing your normal walking routine:

Start slow then build up the time or the frequency or length

Do some gentle stretches before, during and after the walk

Be cautious of the weather, on hot days wear sunscreen, a hat and bring a water bottle.

If walking on a very hot day, go in the cooler times such as early morning or late afternoon or night

In colder times, wear clothing that will keep you warm but that you can take off if needed as you warm up

Wear comfortable runners. If the shoes are new wear them around home to wear them in before going for a walk

Walk up tall - keep your head up and look forward, your arms should comfortably swing by your sides and your feet in a heel toe movement

Continue to breathe through your walk, don’t hold your breathe

Your pace should be enough that you can talk but not sing

Walking is such a great way to increase your activity in your daily life. There are so many benefits to walking and it's easy! You just have to make the effort! Use goals to help motivate yourself and keep track of the time of walks, the distance and how you felt. Look back at that after a few weeks and see how much you have changed. 

This is general advice and if you have any health concerns please speak to your health practitioner. 

If you would like some support as you adapt to your new challenge please give Osteo 4 Families a call on 0416 161 411

Happy walking!!!