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Walk for a healthy heart
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Discover the pleasures of walking and enjoy the good health that comes with it.
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WALK FOR everything — from moving a paper to another section in the office to buying groceries. Never press the bell for an attender when you can walk to get the work done.
Walking is a great tonic for the heart and plays an important role in preventing heart disease, controlling hypertension, diabetes, stress and insomnia, and also keeping mood swings under control. A good walk can also help check your bulging waistline. Here are some important types of walking.
The healthy walk: This is a typical early morning walk where the pace is not brisk or tiresome. It is paced out, but continuous. This type of walk is tailor-made for beginners, those who cannot take a brisk walk or run, and people who are recovering from an illness or a surgery. The physiological benefits of this type of walking include conserving and restoring physical and psychological health. At the physical level, a healthy walk increases the rate at which your heart and lungs work.
A healthy walk does not put stress on your hips, knees and ankles. So how does it help? Muscles need oxygen, so your breathing pattern changes and your heart starts pumping faster, supplying blood to all major muscles of the body. Thus the muscles get more oxygen and, in the process, there is an overall improvement in health.
The stress-buster walk: This is a ten-minute walk or stroll after every two hours of work. It is ideal not only to pep up your heart but also break the monotony of office work. Ideally you should try to go for a stroll outside the office so that you get exposed to mild sunlight.
This walk helps the body to change its chemistry and keeps you alert. It also frees the mind from the chaos of monotonous job commitments, to heighten the mood and alleviate the spirit.
If you are not able to move out, use the stairs both ways, instead of the lift, for your circulatory and respiratory system to work optimally.
In Stress-Buster Walking (SBW) too, the heart beats faster and the muscles and the brain gets more oxygen. This makes the person more alert. Research has shown that busy executives are able to recall things faster and plan better after a SBW.
The meditative walk (MW): This is more for the mind rather than the muscles. The focus is on planned breathing. Some call it conscious breathing. MW is designed to recharge your inner batteries and to sharpen your thoughts while acting on the heart too.
How do you do it? Select an object like a tree or a building or even a far-off lamppost. As you walk towards the object, count your breath — inhalation and exhalation, and anchor your mind on your basic rhythm of life (Prana) until you reach the object.
The weight loss fitness walk (WLFW): This type of walk involves speed, sustained pace and longer distance. This walk speeds up the metabolic rate and helps in burning off excessive fat and calories. It also tones up the entire major muscles group, mainly that of the heart. It also helps in keeping the vital blood-supplying arteries in the heart open and the heart muscles get stronger as they get more oxygen-rich blood.
WLFW also keeps the body trim and the mind alert. But here is a warning; Do not over-do this. Ideally, a 20-minute walk is good enough for people around 40, and 40 minutes for those in the 20s.
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