Walk your way to recovery
A vigorous five mile walk will do more good for an unhappy, but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. – D. White
There is much evidence of the benefits of walking. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently revealed that overweight people who walked briskly for 30 to 60 minutes a day lost weight even if they didn’t change any other lifestyle habits.
Another American study found that people who walked for at least four hours a week gained less weight (an average nine pounds less) than couch potatoes as they got older. Last year, researchers at the University of Colorado found that regular walking helped to prevent peripheral artery disease (which impairs blood flow in the legs and causes leg pain in one-fifth of elderly people). When it comes to walking and addiction it’s become a no brainer.
For a start, a Walk for recovery can help you :
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Focus your mind on recovery.
- Reduce cravings and impulsive thoughts.
- Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
- Strengthen your bones and muscles.
- A Walk for recovery can help you soak in your step work.
- Improve your mood.
- Improve your balance and coordination.
- A walk for recovery can help you connect to your Higher power and yourself. A walk for recovery gives you time to connect at the perfect pace of nature. We believe there is little better for you than water and walking in this world.
- Walk for recovery and you will boost your vitamin D levels.
Part of what makes a walk for recovery so beneficial is that when you’re walking you can’t be sitting. Hopefully you won’t be using either! Sitting for more than eight hours a day is associated with a 90 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes, along with increased risks of heart disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality.
The average American actually spends nine to 10 hours of their day sitting, and certain occupations, such as telecommunications employees, spend an average of 12 hours sitting each day.
For many years, exercise was promoted as the solution to this largely sedentary lifestyle, but research suggests it can’t counteract the effects of too much sitting. The more you move around and get up out of your chair, the better, and walking is part of this.
Research even shows getting up and walking around for two minutes out of every hour can increase your lifespan by 33 percent.
At Pathways we are situated around three game reserves, beaches and mountains. That’s all we need to say on the matter. The paradise of Plett beckons and although many come and stay for a 28 day recovery or so, many end up never wanting to leave. Fact! Walk for recovery with Pathways Plett rehab here.