Regular walks are an investment in your long-term health. Exercise not only provides you with long-term benefits physically, but it also has a positive impact on your mental health and your social life.
It’s easy for us to say that, we know. After all, we do promote a walking app. But there is a good reason for us to create a walking app in the first place.
Sweatcoin is on a mission to encourage technology for good and the science reveals walking is an effective entry-level form of moderate exercise. Moreover, most people walk every day so there is no learning curve.
The issue for most people, however, is you don’t walk far enough to make a significant impact on your physical or mental health. The Sweatcoin app is designed to encourage you to ‘go the extra mile’ – as we say.
Walking has been labelled as ‘the most underrated form of exercise.’ This is probably due to walking being such a common daily activity. We take walking for granted and don’t consider getting from A to B exercise.
It is true that walking is a means to an end. But if you attach a purpose to walking and set yourself daily goals, you can actually transform an ordinary daily activity into a beneficial commodity.
As we said, walking is a simple entry-level activity. Here are some other incentives for you.
We’ve written about the myriad health benefits of walking before which you can about here.
The Physical Benefits of Regular Walks
Numerous studies have shown that walking helps to boost your immune system, lowers blood sugar and helps fight debilitating illnesses such as heart disease and dementia.
All these benefits are important for people of all ages – especially if you have a sedentary job – which incidentally, has the opposite effects of walking.
As a matter of fact, a new study concluded that sitting for 10 hours a day can harm your long-term health no matter how much exercise you do.
Sweatcoin recommends finding alternative ways of ensuring you move whilst at work – and clocking up SWCs as you go.
Daily walks – an optimum of 7500 steps – have been found to expand life span and increase metabolism. Fitness experts say regular walks improve your body’s response to insulin which has a helping hand in burning off belly fat.
Brisk walking is also considered to be a better exercise option than running or going to the gym. You have to spend more time burning off the same amount of calories, but walking does not have the long-term wear and tear on your body as other sports options.
The impact of smashing your bones against a hard surface whilst running can damage your ankle and knee joints. Repetitive curls in the gym can also grind down your joints.
Sweatcoin is not alone in advocating the numerous benefits of walking.
“Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.” ~ walkingforhealth.com
This brings us to our next point.
How Is Walking Good for the Brain?
It has been recognised for some time that good brain health is tantamount to good physical health and vice versa. Not only that, but a healthy brain also enables you to function better at your job, relationships and in your social life.
Recent studies in neuroscience have linked healthy brains with good blood flow. The brain needs about 25% of the body’s blood supply to function to perform daily tasks.
Patients with hypertension, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease were all found to have blood deficiency in the brain. Because walking stimulates blood flow, it is believed that this could be part of the reason why we are often creative after walking or have aha moments whilst strolling in the park.
As we walk, the heart not only beats faster, but we also breathe deeper. This means we take in more oxygen and improve the quality of blood that flows to the brain – and around the body.
Oxygen also plays a key role in the development of white blood cells which, in turn, help create antibodies to fight harmful bacteria, viruses and infections.
As we recently reported, medical professionals battling to find preventative measures to offset the effects of Covid recommend brisk walking.
Studies show that exercise stimulates your mental wellbeing also helps to improve self-esteem and self-worth. Your mood improves, your outlook of the world is more positive, you get better sleep and lower stress and anxiety levels.
It’s no coincidence that all these positive effects are the result of a healthy brain.
Take Walks Together
Walking is also a good way to socialise with people – and as one recent study showed, walking side by side helps to dissolve status. The results of this study ultimately support the concept of holding walking meetings at work.
A high-quality systematic review summarising the metadata of 42 studies found that walking in groups was even more likely to improve various physical and mental health benefits.
Social souls benefited from the health benefits of walking more than people that preferred to walk alone. The results indicate that it’s not only physical exercise we need by human interaction.
Researchers suspect that swapping conversation for browsing the internet on mobile devices or listening to music whilst we are out walking is significantly important for body, mind and soul.
Creating social bonds is important for your self-esteem and confidence. On a personal level, we need to feel as though we have a place in our social groups and walking with others puts us on equal footing.
Download the Sweatcoin App
Are you hitting your daily step count? Download the sweatcoin app and encourage your friends to go for walks with you.
We have teamed up with over 300 merchants that offer incredible discounts on hundreds of amazing merchandise. To access these incredible deals, all you have to do is collect sweat coins (SWC).
To collect sweatcoins, all you to do is download the sweat coin app and get walking. Yes, it is that simple!
So what are you waiting for? Download the sweatcoin app now, grab and friend and nourish your body, mind and soul.
