Your Health: Walking & Cycling

Health & Fitness

Walk your way to a healthier you

Walking is one of the best all-round forms of exercise we can have, it is a way of keeping fit and losing weight that doesn’t cost anything but the rewards we can reap from it are endless. To lose weight we must burn off more calories than we eat and walking is one form of exercise that can help us to do this.
As a general guide a person weighing 60kg would burn off 150 calories if they were to walk at a brisk pace for a half hour. A heavier person would burn off more calories per half hour and a lighter one less calories.
Walking has been known to reduce stress and anxiety and to bring about a feeling of well being leaving the person more relaxed, it also gives us more energy though at first if you have been inactive for any length of time you may feel a little tired at but this will soon wear off after your body has got used to your new routine.
Any physical exercise is proven to help greatly with people who suffer from sleep problems and a gentle stroll before going to bed will help you relax as well as burn off some of the calories you had at your evening meal.
Walking has also been proven as excellent therapy for people suffering from back pain and also helps in relieving problems with the joints.
As well as helping you lose weight now and become fitter and healthier walking can help to prevent a wide range of problems occurring from carrying too much weight around in the future. Evidence has shown that walking can help with

• Lowering high blood pressure
• Help burn off body fat
• Promote healthy blood sugar levels
• Give a boost to the immune system
• Improve depression and anxiety

Cycling for your health

Cycling has been proven to be an excellent form of aerobic exercise for those wanting to shed a few pounds, cycling burns off roughly 300 calories per hour if you cycle at a moderate pace.
There are many indirect benefits to be gained from cycling; cycling can help to improve co-ordination, which is of particular help to older people as this gives better balance and reduces the risk of falls which could result in fractures.
Cycling is an excellent form of exercise for building up strength particularly in the legs and improving your cardiovascular system which helps people suffering from asthma.
Recent studies carried out showed that even the smallest amount of cycling can bring significant gains to fitness levels, the study showed that after just 6 weeks of cycling only short distances for 4 times a week aerobic fitness levels were raised by 11%.
Results also showed that people who started to cycle after never doing much exercise before moved from the third of the population who were the least fit to the fittest half of the population in just a few short weeks.