Walking 6,000 steps a day can actually walk away 3 major chronic diseases, but the key is to walk like this

"Better to sweat together than eat together" is growing more and more popular, and walking, the most affordable health-preserving method, has become a symbol of a healthy life.

"Walking," this simple thing you can do just by moving your legs, has been recognized by the World Health Organization as "the best exercise in the world." Research proves that walking can provide many benefits for bones, muscles and joints.

However, walking more does not mean it is better.

Walking too much can also harm the body

Mr. Liu from Hangzhou wanted to lose weight through power walking, and walked more than 15,000 steps every day. Unexpectedly, in less than a week, he developed knee joint synovitis!

A 25-year-old young man walked 10,000 steps every day, and on weekends walked 30,000 steps. A month later, he felt soreness in his lower back and could not straighten up. A hospital examination found that he had developed lumbar muscle strain.

A 42-year-old woman heard that walking a lot could "grind flat" bone spurs, so she walked 30,000 steps a day. After half a month, not only were her knees red and swollen, but she could not even walk. In the end, she went to the hospital in a wheelchair.

How should you walk to benefit your health?

01

Where to walk?

It is best to walk in parks, sports fields and other quiet and clean places far from roads. The ideal path should be grass, dirt or a rubber track, and you should avoid walking on hard surfaces such as concrete and asphalt roads.

Of course, in real life this is relatively difficult to achieve, but where there is a dirt path, do not walk on the asphalt road; where there is a playground or sports field, do not walk on the asphalt road.

When walking, you must choose a good pair of shoes. They do not have to be name-brand, as long as they are comfortable. This is because during brisk walking the impact on the soles of the feet is 1.2-1.5 times the whole body weight.

02

How much to walk?

What truly helps improve health is walking 6,000 steps in one go.

In one day, a person may walk a few steps to the toilet, a few steps up and down stairs, and a few steps in the office, which together may add up to several thousand steps.

But the best walking is not "piecemeal," stopping and starting. The best brisk walking is done in one continuous session, walking enough for 30-40 minutes.

For older adults, 100 steps per minute is recommended, 3,000 steps in 30 minutes. Middle-aged and young people can walk a bit faster.

03

How to walk?

Warm up before walking and stretch after walking. In between, we "walk by feel"!

When brisk walking for 30 minutes, there will be moderate palpitations and shortness of breath, and slight sweating at a moderate temperature. This is the best state; do not let yourself get too tired. During brisk walking, the upper limbs should also swing. On one hand, this can increase the amount of aerobic exercise and better reflect the effects of aerobic exercise; on the other hand, it helps train the upper limb and chest muscles.

Brisk walking is best done with small steps. Each step only needs to extend about 10 cm farther forward than usual walking, and at the beginning you should proceed gradually. Some people walk very fast on the first day, exceeding their capacity, which can injure the knees and calves and cause pain.

6,000 steps walk away three major chronic diseases

1. 6,000 steps can lower blood pressure: get the blood vessels moving

The cerebral hemorrhage, sudden death and myocardial infarction brought by high blood pressure are very frightening. For high blood pressure, in addition to taking medication properly, persisting in regular fitness walking is the best way to treat high blood pressure. 

When patients with high blood pressure take part in walking exercise, they should note: 

1. When walking, the soles of the feet should land on the ground, the chest should be lifted, and the pace should be moderate. 

2. When walking, the upper body should be kept straight, otherwise it will compress the chest and affect heart function. 

3. Follow the principle of gradual progress. When walking, blood pressure will rise slightly. At the beginning, you must walk slowly, at about 40%-50% of the speed of walking at full effort. It is more suitable to cover 2-3 km in 30-45 minutes. The standard for walking intensity is reaching the point where sweat seems about to appear but has not yet come out.

2. 6,000 steps can lower blood lipids: make the blood cleaner

"Walking" is one of the important means of maintaining healthy blood lipid metabolism in the human body, even more effective than taking medicine! Walking 6,000 steps a day has a great effect on lowering blood lipids, can increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase, and accelerate the transport, decomposition and excretion of lipids. 

1. It is recommended that patients with high blood lipids maintain a moderate-intensity amount of exercise every day, that is, a daily brisk walking amount of 3-5 km, which is exactly about 6,000 steps. If you persist every day, within half a year your blood lipids will improve greatly.

2. It is also recommended to drink more water in daily life. In particular, persisting in drinking 300 ml of plain boiled water on an empty stomach after getting up in the morning can dilute blood viscosity and help clean the gastrointestinal tract.

3. 6,000 steps can lower blood sugar: consume large amounts of glucose

Many people with diabetes, once diagnosed, dare not do any exercise. In fact, walking is also the best way to lower blood sugar. It can not only lower blood sugar, but also reduce the dosage of medication for patients. Many people with diabetes use "walking" to control their diabetes very well.

Practice has proved that regular fitness walking exercise has the following benefits for people with diabetes:

Fitness walking can help with weight loss.

Obesity is one of the important factors promoting the occurrence and development of diabetes. After weight loss, many tissue cells in the body become more sensitive to insulin, reducing the body's insulin requirement and allowing the condition to be controlled.

Fitness walking can burn large amounts of glucose in the blood, strengthen the regulation of glucose metabolism and improve the utilization rate of glucose, thereby lowering blood sugar and urine sugar.

Fitness walking can also effectively prevent the occurrence of diabetic foot.

When doing fitness walking exercise, it can not only lower blood sugar, but also effectively maintain blood flow in the lower limbs, providing great protection for the feet. 

Fitness walking can strengthen physical fitness,

improve metabolism and cardiopulmonary function, so as to reduce cardiovascular complications. 

If you want to control blood sugar while doing fitness walking, be sure to remember the following five key points:

1. Increase the stride length of each step. When walking, straighten the back and waist, try to keep the chest lifted and the head up, point all ten toes in the direction of walking, and use the toes to generate power with every step, so that as many muscles in the whole body as possible are involved, and it should feel as if the body is being bounced up. Increase the swing amplitude of the arms, and try to swing the arms straight forward and backward to level. 

2. Put effort into every step. Persisting in walking regularly can prevent the occurrence of many diabetic complications. 

3. The daily walking time should be fixed. The best exercise time for people with diabetes is from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

4. The daily step frequency should be fixed. Try to keep the step frequency consistent each time, and you can quietly chant "one two one" and walk rhythmically. 

5. Be persistent, but the amount of exercise should not be too large, and you should not become overly tired.

Common walking mistakes everyone makes

1. Walking immediately after a meal 

Many people go for a walk immediately after a meal. This habit is not advisable. Walking immediately after eating will add many tension factors to the stomach out of nowhere, and instead easily cause bodily harm.

The correct time for a walk should be half an hour after a meal. Jogging should preferably be one hour after a meal. If you are going to do vigorous exercise such as playing ball, it should be two hours after a meal.

2. Blindly pursuing speed 

Many people think that the faster you walk and the greater the intensity, the better the exercise effect. In fact, walking too fast makes it easier to cause bodily harm. More common ones include pain and injury in the knee joints, ankle joints, hip joints and lower back.

Walking speed should match your own physical condition, and appropriately slowing down is the best approach.

3. Walking strenuously early in the morning 

Many people have the habit of getting up early to walk for exercise. This habit is very good, but if you start walking strenuously without eating breakfast or drinking water, it can easily lead to low blood sugar. When getting up early, the blood is more viscous, especially for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and the exercise risk is greater.

In the morning, the body's organs have just awakened. At this time, walking or other gentle exercise is more suitable.

4. Being greedy for too much walking 

With the popularity of WeChat Sports, many people secretly compete over their WeChat step counts. In order to seize the top spot on the exercise leaderboard, some people walk as many as tens of thousands of steps a day.

In fact, walking exercise should be done in moderation, and you should not blindly pursue step counts. Exercise needs to match your own actual situation, and people who are overweight or have chronic diseases need to pay even more attention.

Do you exercise every day?

How many times a week can you exercise?

If you do not have an exercise habit,

then start with walking!