Walking has many benefits not only for your body, but also for your mind. Regular walk is recommended for overall physical and mental fitness.

Walk to sharpen your brain

Activities like walking increase blood flow to brain. Many researches have been carried out to study the effect of walking on brain. The results of a study on people aged 60 years and above indicate that regular 45 minute walk at the speed of 1 mile/16 minutes resulted in improvement of thinking skills of the participants.

Results of another study indicate that older adults, who took 40 minute walks three times a week, had less age related shrinkage of hippocampus. Hippocampus is an area of brain where memories and emotions are processed. The study also reported improvement in spatial memory tasks after a year. So take a walk daily to sharpen your brain.

Walk to maintain mental fitness

Maintaining mental fitness is essential for healthy aging. Most people think that crosswords or memory games help maintain mental fitness, not physical activity. But exercise is essential for mental fitness. The results of various studies indicate that regular walking can help delay age related cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia.

A simple activity like walking requires your brain to take a number of decisions about perception, balance and memory. This helps keep your brain active. It can give hundreds of stimuli to your brain, for instance, observation of changes on your route, the feel of sun and wind on your skin and memories triggered by things and places on your way. All these help in keeping your brain young and active.

Continue solving crosswords and playing memory games, but take regular walks as well to maintain optimum mental fitness.

Walk away your stress

A walk is known to be an effective stress buster. It not only takes you away from the stressors, but also gives you time to think. A change of environment, fresh air and body movement are natural and effective stress busters.

Walking helps you combat stress in a number of ways. It takes you out of the stressful environment and relaxes tense muscles. Watching trees, flowers and the like have a calming effect on your mind. Walking also helps burn calories accumulated due to stress eating. It helps you let off the steam and reduces the risk of hypertension and heart diseases caused by stress.

Walk away your blues

Whenever you feel low, try to take a walk, you will instantly feel the difference. Regular walk and exercise is recommended by most physicians for treatment of depression. Activities like walking result in release of endorphins, also called body’s natural happy drugs. The effect is more noticeable in those walking at a higher heart rate pace. In general, mood improvement is observed in all walkers, no matter what the pace.

A disturbance in brain chemistry is the reason behind most depressions. In such condition, drugs that can stimulate release of endorphins are prescribed. But this can be naturally achieved by walking. Include walk in your daily routine for a sharp, healthy, stress free and happy mind.

Author Bio: Teisha Mahabir specializes in writing articles about health, diet, longevity and health specialists like Brenda Rusnak. Brenda Rusnak is a health care specialist who writes about health-aging and prevention. For more information about healthy-aging and Brenda Rusnak, check her out on LinkedIn.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: walking,for,a,healthy,mind,exercise,longevity,relieve,stress,relax,muscles