Is walking as good an exercise as running?

People exercise for several reasons: To keep fit, to shed weight, or maybe because their doctors told them to do so. Whatever the reason maybe, walking and running are common kinds of exercise people engage. Often, people ask: which is better or more beneficial?

In cases of weight loss, running is often recommended simply because you expend more energy and burn more calories when you run. In the case or in a similar case, to get the same benefits running gives, you would have to spend more time than you spent running. This is because if you ought to cover say 10km, you would spend more time walking than if you were running.

So, to get the same benefits, you would need to spend more time doing brisk walking so that in the end you get to cover the same amount of distance.

Also, not everyone can manage running (especially people with heart conditions or arthritis) as it puts more stress on the joints.To make it flexible, you can do a little of both, say run a little and complete the rest of the journey with brisk walking.

Walking seems easier and not as sweaty as running is and people underestimate the benefits walking gives. However, a report by the American Heart Association has discovered that when to comes to reducing your risk for heart disease, walking is just as good as running! The researchers also analysed data on the health of about 48000 runners and walkers. Here is what they found out: Even when it comes to reducing the risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, brisk walking does as much good as running as in both cases, participants end up with better cardiovascular health.

In the end, it really depends on your personal goals, what you hope to achieve by working out and your capacity, walking and running are both good ways to keep fit.

Pay attention to your body and know what your capacity is and if you need to step up your game from walking to running and you are not sure of your body’s capacity or you have some underlying conditions, feel free to check with you doctor for advice. Walking and running are great ways to stay in shape, whether you do more or less of anyone, That is up to you and your capacity.