Even knowing the fact that we must do some exercise for keeping ourselves fit and healthy we somehow fail to maintain that routine. Our busy schedule doesn’t allow us any spare time to do the basics exercises. So we should at least try doing one exercise that not only keeps us fit plus it relaxes us from all our tensions making us the stress-free whole day. One such easiest and safest exercise is walking, which most people start doing up regularly to re-energizes their bodies and burn away the harmful effects of stress. Regular exercise not only motivates it gives us energy too and empowers us. Here we enlisted, some top health benefits of walking. Let’s have a look into them. We often try to reduce our weight in a short period of time. Many people don’t hesitate to go under the knife or other painless surgeries or laser treatments which promise us to reduce our weight in just a few days. But even following meticulous diet routine or going for surgeries I get back on the same tracks. Most of us complain for doing yoga/ exercise when they couldn’t find any noticeable change in themselves. We should keep it in our mind that we need to jog, run, walk; cycle or swim for at least an hour a day then there will be a visible change in our body. Walking is the best exercise among the rest, be it a morning walk or evening walk it is beneficial equally and it is the simplest form of exercise. We should make it a point to walk either time in a day. Our generation is so much into work that we often forget the basic needs and requirements of our body for which we often suffer from various mood swings. Walking relaxes our mind and makes us more energetic throughout the day. The earliest hours in the morning would probably give you fresh oxygen and quality time to spend with the greenery and beauty around you that you will feel all your tensions and pains go away. With the change of mind, our moods change, and we experience physical and spiritual upliftment. Walking also provides greater relaxation and turns a routine walk into a creative & rejuvenating experience. The oxygen that we get early in the morning also gives us great amount of energy, especially to our joints. Elderly people prefer morning walks more because morning exercises keep them free from joint pains all day long. The movement of our legs opens up some of the energy channels in our body and releases good cholesterol in our blood. By constantly moving our joints, we can increase our blood circulation in a way that can only be completed with our daily morning walk. For doing morning walk, we can go alone or along with our friends, family, and pets or even can make some new morning walk friends! Most importantly many fitness experts advice for walking instead of gymming because as it comes free of cost, you can do it alone since it doesn’t require any companion or expensive gadgets but burns nearly the same amount of calories as jogging does. Walking is preferred more in calm and peaceful surroundings like a garden or park area which relaxes the body from tension and stress. Walking is the most overlooked and neglected form of exercise which many of us don’t take seriously as an exercise as it sounds and look easy! Few Important Points to Know Before You Start Walking as an Exercise: • Make a routine for going at least 30 minutes walk every day keeping pace at 3 to 5 miles an hour. • Walking with an empty stomach is more beneficial. Digestion of food requires time and a lot of energy from the body. If you start doing the exercise right after eating, it overburdens your body making you feel sleepy. So it is convenient not to eat an hour before going out for a walk through you can eat fruits and juices. • Just exercise alone will not make you healthy. You have to eat properly or show no affections to cigarettes and alcohol. • Although an early morning walk is better as the air is fresher than the evening air but the timings really don’t matter at all. • Walking should be done to relax our mind as well as exercise the body, so we need to avoid busy roads. Select a nice, peaceful and green place where you can get fresh air with green & clean surroundings. Remember that taking more carbon dioxide than oxygen can harm our body. Benefits of Walking: Walking contributes much to our overall health and fitness in the following ways: • Walking strengthens our joints, bones and heart keeping us healthy. • Walking is a very good exercise for controlling weight. Regular walking combined with low fat, high fibre-diet is an excellent form of weight control. • It improves our mood and self-esteem. • It gives us energy and helps us get a good night’s rest. • Taking a walk regularly is one of the best things we can do for our back. It promotes muscular development and speeds up the endorphins release which provides our natural height. • For elderly people walking is the best exercise. Day by day we get older, so the texture and the mineral content of bones decrease making them thinner. By this reason, the bones become too porous and brittle making it more likely to fracture. This condition in medical terminology is known as osteoporosis and performing the exercise on a daily basis is also a key for preventing and treating osteoporosis. • Walking regularly can reduce high blood pressure and hypertension making the heart work more efficiently and it also improves the blood circulation of our body. • Walking regularly helps in increasing the levels of “good” cholesterol in the blood and reduces the chances of a heart attack. Walking also helps in lowering the risk of coronary heart diseases. Staying fit and healthy is the key to lead a good happy life. When we feel fit and healthy our self-confidence increases and we feel more able to cope with the challenges of life. Even celebrities are taking some time-out from their hectic schedule to walk for a few minutes why can’t us! Walking is one solution to various health-related issues. So for staying fit and healthy start doing walk on a regular basis.