Walking outdoors. Why doctors advise to walk more and spend time on the street

Modern rhythmic life contributes to the constant acceleration of all processes in society. People are in a hurry somewhere, worried, spending their nerves on solving problems and all sorts of little things, forgetting about such an important factor as fresh air. Accidentally falling into natural environment, we begin to inhale oxygen purified by trees and understand all the delights of life.

What most people don't realize is that fresh air is essential for normal functioning organism from the very first minutes of life until death. Young mothers regularly take walks with their children along the alleys of the parks. It usually takes at least 2-3 hours. Adults should spend the same amount of time outdoors. But do we always adhere to the rules of conduct and allocate precious hours for a walk?

In most cases, our walks are limited to short walks from the house to the garage, to the neighboring store for shopping, or from the parking lot to the entrance to the office. At a young age, people still visit places of entertainment and sometimes walk in the company of peers. If there are children in the family, parents sometimes devote a day off for them to visit the park or travel out of town. As a result, rarely anyone can boast of a three-hour walk.

Due to the lack of oxygen, people become weak and can become victims various diseases like pneumonia or heart failure. Fatigue increases, the person becomes lethargic and irritable. Inhalation clean air extremely necessary, the process of understanding is for some reason pushed back last years life and manifest itself in old age.

Inhalation of fresh air can normalize the operation of systems human body. Most of all, oxygen is required for the reliable functioning of the brain and nervous system. Deficiency causes memory impairment, a state of absent-mindedness and depression. A sufficient amount of air improves lung ventilation, heart function, vascular patency, and the state of the digestive system. Fortified general state organism, the probability of diseases decreases, life expectancy increases.

To fully satisfy your body in oxygen, you need to take daily walks. It is best for them to choose areas overgrown with green spaces: trees, shrubs, grass. City dwellers can visit the nearest park or nearby forest. As a result, the lungs will required amount oxygen, the tone of the body will rise, strength will be restored for further successful activity.

Walk outdoors

Research healthy lifestyle scientists are engaged in life different countries. The Americans have confirmed by practical experiments the high returns of walking. To do this, they decided to compare the results of physical exercises different type. A group of people different ages was divided into two identical halves. One was doing muscle stretching exercises in stationary conditions, the other took walks in the air from half an hour to 45 minutes three times a week.

A year later, scientists conducted surveys of both groups. The brain volume of “walkers” turned out to be 2% larger than that of those involved exercise. Moreover, the increase occurred due to the areas responsible for memory and planning. Stretchers had a 1.5% reduction in brain size.

A long experiment showed that exposure to air promotes the rejuvenation of brain cells. The results were enhanced when walks were combined with memory training, mental arithmetic, logical thinking, and fast reading.

What is the right way to walk?

Moving along the alleys of a park or square not only helps the body in getting the right amount oxygen, but also helps to strengthen the muscles of the legs, back, introduces nature, helps to enjoy green foliage.

In order to allocate a little time every day for walks, you can get acquainted with the following recommendations:

  • Take every opportunity to walk. Walk part of the way to work or home. At lunchtime, take half an hour and walk around the nearest square or park area. Walk to the store;
  • Organize meetings with friends or loved ones in nature. On weekends, go to nature with the whole company;
  • Set aside time and money to travel occasionally. A trip to another city can add oxygen to the body, and a lot of new impressions to the brain;
  • To saturate the walk with impressions, get yourself a hobby or a dog. You can take pictures or collect herbariums;
  • Loads should be increased gradually. 15 minutes is enough to get started. Then gradually bring up to an hour. Over time, walks will increase to 2-3 hours.

In the conditions of the modern rhythm of life, constant haste, stress, tension, crisis, we often forget about the benefits that fresh air brings. And only when we get to nature on weekends, we remember it and cannot breathe in pure, natural oxygen!

Meanwhile, every person needs fresh air almost from birth. Think of young mothers who walk daily with their children in the park. The duration of their walks takes approximately 2-3 hours. That's how much time you need to be on the street and adults. But how many of us follow this regulation?

As a rule, our daily walks in best case are limited to trips to the garage, to the bus stop and to the store - for groceries, household appliances or anything else. Young people, in addition, sometimes still go on dates, to cafes, nightclubs or restaurants. On weekends, we try to get out into the street with the children, but not always and not everyone succeeds. Thus, not everyone is 3 hours a day on the street.

It is not surprising that we subsequently suffer from diseases of the lungs and blood vessels, fatigue, irritability and heart failure. After all, the benefits of clean air for the human body are essentially invaluable. Unfortunately, most of us understand this only in old age, when it is too late to restore strength.

Fresh air is good because it has a beneficial effect on the body in a complex - improving the work of several systems at once. First of all, it comes to the aid of the brain, psyche and nervous system - strengthening memory, relieving absent-mindedness and negative feelings. The supply of the right amount of oxygen to the body also has a positive effect on the activity of the heart, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and vessels. Life expectancy increases, many diseases disappear.

The most accessible, efficient and convenient way saturation of the body with oxygen daily walks. It is best to do them in places of green space, for example in a forest or in a park - which will allow you to restore vitality, the required level of energy and vivacity in the shortest period of time.

Fresh air and walks

The high efficiency of hiking has been experimentally confirmed by American scientists. The researchers decided to compare what has a better effect on brain function - walking or doing stretching exercises. The age of the subjects ranged from 50 to 80 years. The people were divided into two groups. The first group had to walk on fresh air with a frequency of 3 times a week, from 30 to 45 minutes. The second is to do muscle stretching exercises according to exactly the same schedule.

A year has passed. With the help of funds modern diagnostics The scientists compared the brain volumes of people in each group. It turned out that the brain of "pedestrians" grew in volume by as much as 2%. And most of all, this trend concerned the areas of the brain responsible for memory and activity planning. In the representatives of the second group, the brain, on the contrary, decreased by 1.5%.

It can be concluded that daily walking prevents brain aging. The optimal result is achieved when they are used in combination with exercises for the development of memory, logical thinking, mental arithmetic, speed reading, etc.

How to take walks?

Walking in the forest, in the park or at least in the square allows you not only to fully enjoy the fresh air. It is also movement, which means strengthening the legs, developing muscles, and finally, getting to know and communicating with nature, its unique beauty and picturesqueness!

If you don't know how to allocate time for walking, use the following recommendations:

1. Walk to and from work at least part of the way. Go shopping on foot. Use lunch breaks for walks in the park.

2. Meet friends outside or in nature. Spend time there with your loved one. Get out of town more often on weekends.

3. One more good way weekends are travel. A tourist trip to a neighboring village or city is not only a “dose” but necessary for the body environmental component, but also new experiences, interesting acquaintances and a lot of positive emotions!

4. So that you do not get bored walking on weekdays, find yourself a suitable outdoor activity or a corresponding hobby. For example, get a dog or take up photography.

5. And the last tip. Dose the load. Start with short walks. An interval of 15 minutes at first will be enough. Gradually, this time can be brought up to 1 hour. And then - walk in the morning and evening, a total of 2-3 hours a day.

When the blues and fatigue overcome, irreplaceable and accessible way bring yourself to your senses will walk. Why and how to walk correctly, we will tell below.

walks make it possible to combine physical activity(especially if you walk at a fast pace) with aesthetic pleasure. And the right companion makes the walk a time for socializing. After working in the office or in production, where there is often no sunlight, a person especially feels the benefit and pleasure of being outdoors.

Walking is good for weight loss or to save normal weight. Half an hour of fast walking burns as many calories as an hour of exercising at a sports club.

This is especially true for those who are contraindicated in serious sports loads. For example, if you have heart problems, walking is a good health practice. And for prevention. cordially- vascular diseases outdoor walks are also helpful.

The benefits of being outside are invaluable for hypertensive patients and for those who experience hypotensive crises. Slow flanking allows you to get enough oxygen and gives you enough physical exercise.

Pregnant women will receive a special benefit from walking if there are no contraindications. Walking improves blood circulation and saturates the blood with oxygen, and also helps to maintain physical fitness. And the baby in the womb benefits from a mother's walk. And after childbirth, as the body recovers, you can quickly walk with a stroller.

The benefits of walking for children

Toddler walks helpful starting from the first weeks of life. When discharged from the hospital, they usually specify when the child can go out for a walk for fifteen minutes. In the future, the duration of walks is gradually increased. Many children sleep well in strollers, at least in cool weather. But you need to remember that in severe frosts with kids do not go outside.

Older children are interested in exploring the world outside the home, and for schoolchildren walks in the open air- an indispensable way to warm up after sitting at the desks and, alas, in front of the screens.

Walking in the sun helps produce vitamin D and are the prevention of rickets and other diseases. But children should be especially carefully protected from direct sun rays, and babies - from strong wind and cold.

How to walk effectively

For a walk, you need to choose, if possible, environmentally friendly places away from roads and industrial zones. It is important that the surroundings are pleasing to the eye, this will help relieve stress. It is advisable to choose a comfortable time of day: avoid the heat of the day in summer, and walk in the middle of the day in winter. This is especially important for children and people with poor health. Walking should be approximately two hours a day. Single forced marches are not as useful as regular walks.

Clothing and shoes for walking should be comfortable for long walks. They must be suitable for the weather and protect either from the bright sun or from the piercing wind.

Knowing the benefits of a walk in the fresh air, you can find the determination and start walking!

Hello dear readers and guests of my blog!

In today's article I will tell you about one of the very important factors affecting our health and active longevity- walks in the open air. Yes, it would seem simple thing but what a great benefit! Now we will find out what are the benefits of walking in the fresh air!

So, let's start, in this article you will learn:

First of all, walking is moderate physical activity, that is, exactly what our body needs for health and longevity.

In general, hypodynamia (low physical activity) is the main cause of most diseases. modern man, due to the lack of movement, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, violation of digestion, respiration and blood circulation occur.

How much to walk per day

Have you ever wondered how many steps you walk in a day? Now there are many opportunities to find out with the help of various applications and devices, such as pedometers and fitness bracelets. The measurement results for the average city dweller will be very sad, on average it is 5000 steps. As they say, not enough!

Numerous studies around the world, including studies by the National Institutes of Health in the United States (National Institutes of Health), have found that in order to promote health and prevent diseases associated with low motor activity, a person needs to walk about 10,000 steps a day, which is about 7 kilometers (depending on the length of the step).

In his book " blue zones”, Dan Buettner is a National Geographic researcher who has traveled all over Earth in search of the secrets of centenarians, writes that regular and moderate physical activity in the form of walking (due to their lifestyle) are key factors in the long life of the inhabitants of the island of Sardinia, where the largest concentration of male centenarians was found.

The benefits of walking for the human body

Walking is the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. While we are walking, there is an alignment of the heartbeat rhythm and a decrease blood pressure, improves blood flow and blood supply to all organs, strengthens the heart muscle.

Prevention varicose veins leg veins, because improved peripheral outflow venous blood from the feet. Walking improves blood circulation and blood, moving through the vessels, enriches all organs large quantity oxygen.

Walking prolongs life, scientists have proven that older people who take daily walks for at least two hours a day reduce their risk of death in the next ten years by as much as 40%!

While walking, bones and joints are strengthened, the risk of osteoporosis is significantly reduced.

The joints themselves have practically no access to blood, their nutrition useful substances, occurs mainly due to the interarticular (synovial) fluid, which is their natural lubricant. Lack or, conversely, an excess of this fluid is harmful to normal operation joints. This fluid is produced by the joints themselves in their cartilaginous sheath, its full production and outflow occurs during the monotonous work of the muscles, it can be: running, swimming, cycling and of course walking! Yes, by the way, it is also useful for the knee joints.

Walking strengthens the muscles of the abs, legs and a huge number of stabilizer muscles that support the body in an upright position and relieve stress on the joints and spine.

Walking improves performance respiratory system. V Everyday life we breathe shallow breathing, using mainly upper lobes lungs, with intensive walking we begin to breathe " deep breathing» including the diaphragm in the work, this improves ventilation of the lungs and saturates the body with oxygen, improves gas exchange in the lungs and tissues and therefore improves general well-being organism. And with regular walks, there is an increase in the vital capacity of the lungs (VC). More about breathing and benefits breathing exercises you can read this article:

Improvement through walking metabolic processes organism, increase defensive forces the body improves immunity.

The benefits of walking to improve your emotional state

Many studies have confirmed that the dependence of mood on the number of steps taken, that is, the more you walk in a day, the better mood! This is due to the fact that when walking, the body begins to produce hormones: endorphin, which gives us high spirits and relieves anxiety and stress, and serotonin, which is also responsible for good mood and a feeling of inner comfort, it also stimulates our physical activity.

Walking improves sleep! During studies, conducted mainly on older people, another dependence was revealed. The quality of sleep depends on the distance traveled during the day! Those test subjects who walked 5 kilometers a day or more were 40% more likely to get rid of chronic insomnia.

Regular walks help relieve the syndrome chronic fatigue, there is a removal emotional stress, due to the increased circulation of fresh air in the lungs, the nervous system and brain are healed.

What a great benefit of regular walking! It would seem a trifle, but thanks to such a simple and pleasant event as walking in the fresh air, there is a surge of energy and vitality!

Here, lastly: I came across an interesting video about how the leg muscles work when walking:

That's all for today, in the next article I will tell you the recipe for the most delicious and healthy ones that you can easily take with you for a walk!

Thank you all for your attention, I will be glad to see you again!

Sitting all the time within four walls is harmful - you deprive yourself of connections with the outside world, and your body - oxygen, without which not a single life will flow in it. important process. Ideally, an adult should devote at least one and a half a week to outdoor walks, and it is advisable for children to spend the same amount of time outdoors every day. The benefits of such events should not be questioned, and even emotional condition. Probably, there are few people who would return from a full-fledged walk in a bad mood.

A healthy lifestyle is especially fashionable today. But, following this fashion, many concentrate their efforts only on sports training and correction of the diet, but they simply forget that they also need to walk. Meanwhile, a calm and pleasant walk in a quiet place will bring less effect than jumping rope, because in this case, breathing will also become more frequent, and work will be activated circulatory system. True, all this will happen in a milder mode than during training. They will be a great addition to walks - they should always be present on your table.

How can you lose weight?

More often you need to be in the air for those who want to lose weight. excess weight. And it's not even that in the process of walking calories are burned. There is an improvement in metabolism, the release of sweat becomes more intense, and this, in turn, contributes to the removal of toxins from the body. Of course, this refers to productive sweating, and not armpit hyperhidrosis and other pathologies associated with excessive sweating.

The entire musculoskeletal system person. Muscles, ligaments, and joints are strengthened. By the way, you can additionally take it, which helps to restore their mobility. Hiking, according to the observations of surgeons, contribute to the formation of correct posture .

It is preferable to walk somewhere outside the city or in a park (square). In principle, any territory remote from highways and environmentally unfavorable zones will do. So, a walk in the vicinity of some chemical plant is unlikely to be beneficial. But the seashore is one of the ideal options.

Walk, walk - you will be smart!

But beneficial effect health walks affects not only physical form. According to scientists from the University of Illinois, this is a good tool for intellectual development. They conducted a series of studies of the brain and found that its activity is activated if a person finds time for forty minutes in the fresh air at least three times a week. Naturally, you need to not just sit on a bench near the house, but move. You can go jogging for health, or you can just walk. The speed of movement and rhythm, by and large, do not matter. Even leisurely walking improves the ability to reason. And those who are accustomed to lead sedentary image life, before occur age-related changes in the body, and their thoughts are often confused.

Walking helps relieve irritation and stress, they can be a good cure for depression. In addition, it is in the air that you can get powerful charge energy. And a long stay in enclosed spaces usually leads to the appearance of physical weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome, and a decrease in immunity.