Walking is the most ancient and still the best modern exercise. But, it is considered as one of the underrated forms of exercise as many of us are not aware of its magical health benefits if done on a regular basis. It’s such a simple activity yet it poses impactful health benefits. It doesn’t require any special skills or equipment. 

All you need to do is just getting started with comfortable clothing and supportive shoes. Many research evidence has shown that walking at a lively pace at least 150 minutes a week is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. 

Walking is also considered as one of the most versatile forms of exercise or physical activity. It is an excellent type of cardio activity. But, in order to challenge your cardiovascular system you need to walk at a pace and intensity that increases the demands on your heart, lungs and muscles. Cardio is the short form of “cardiovascular,” which means it involves the heart (cardio) and blood vessels (vascular) .

A good cardio workout gets your heart pumping stronger and faster, moving oxygen-rich blood more efficiently to all the muscles, organs and tissue throughout your body For most people, walking is considered to be safe, easy to stick with, and low- or no-cost. 

As walking is a low impact activity and requires minimal equipment, it can be done at any time of day, and also can be performed at your own pace. It is also a great form of physical activity for people who are overweight, elderly, or who haven’t exercised in a long time. 

There are various strategies that you can use to make walking an enjoyable and social part of your lifestyle e.g.listening music while walking or making a call to your dear ones, making use of a public venues like park or neighboring street footpaths, having someone’s company like your friends or family member, etc.To get the best health benefit out of your walk, you should try to walk for at least 30 minutes as briskly as you can on most days of the week. ‘Brisk’ means that you can still talk or but not sing, and you may be puffing slightly. It’s considered as a moderate intensity activity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends at least 150 minutes(2.5 hours) a week of moderate intensity activity. So, it can be 30 minutes of brisk walking at least five days a week one way to meet this goal, researchers say, is that for every hour of brisk walking, life expectancy for some people may increase by two hours. 

But, what if you’re so tight on time and your surrounding environment is not so supportive? In this case, it becomes difficult for you to spare even a half an hour every day. So, If 150 minutes sounds like a lot,remember that even short activity sessions can be added up over the week to reach this goal. And it’s easy to fit in a few minutes of walking several times a day.    use like park or neighboring street footpaths, having someone’s company like your friends or family member, etc