One day last week while I was out for my daily walk with my little boy, I started thinking about all the many benefits a walk can bring you.
The view on our walk
We were walking down to our local SuperValu which is about a mile away, for some groceries. My son walks for the first little while and then when he gets tired he gets into his stroller. He loves his walk and gets so much enjoyment out of it. As do I! As we walked along I kept thinking of all the different benefits we were experiencing from our walk and then I would say them out loud to him. He’s repeating everything he hears at the moment so it was great practice for that. But I also thought all the benefits would make a good post to share with you all and perhaps inspire you to get out for a walk today. So here’s what we came up with…
Benefits to enjoy from a daily walk
- The obvious one – exercise! A brisk walk is a great full body workout
- Fresh air in the lungs, and, along with this,
- Deep breathing – a walk is a great opportunity to breathe in ten great big deep breaths and let those shoulders down an inch or two
- Sunshine/Vitamin D – the happiness vitamin! Thirty minutes walking outdoors a day is a good source of Vitamin D
- Headspace away from computers/phones – Keep that phone away and enjoy the view
- Experience nature – watch the breeze lift the trees, birds hop across your path, cats and dogs out for their walks
- Time to think without distractions, or, if you don’t want to think, plug those earphones in and listen to some music or practice a wellbeing mantra
- Opportunity to meet a neighbour for a chat
- Opportunity to smile at a stranger and cheer them (and you!) up
- Working up a sweat will help your body detox
- Walking is a great time to drink water – I always bring my water bottle and stop for water breaks. A walk is a great way to get a good full bottle of water into you
- Post-walk endorphins! You can’t beat them. They’ll lift your spirits and make you feel great for the rest of the day
- And finally, good exercise actually generates energy for your body, it sounds like a strange one but it’s true! A daily walk will actually increase your daily energy levels
Pretty good, right? All this from a walk!
Let me know in the comments if I’ve inspired you enough for a walk today!
