No need to envy marathoners. Walking is just as good for your
mind and body.
A Mighty Heart
Biking
and rowing may get your heart racing, but a low-intensity stroll in the park
five to six times a week is actually more effective in preventing obesity and
eliminating heart risk factors including insulin sensitivity, total
cholesterol, and blood pressure. Walkers trimmed their waistlines more and shed
more weight.
A Walk to Remember
Walking
improves memory. Subjects who walked on a treadmill were better at correctly
identifying which numbers were repeated in a series of digits read aloud.
Walking also improves attention, bolstering your ability to ignore
distractions—probably because walking activates brain regions associated with
attention.
A Spring in Your
Step
Your
gait reflects your emotional state: Sad people walk slower and take shorter steps
than people who are angry or joyful, and push off less with their calves with
each step. By assessing speed, heavyfootedness, stride length, and arm
swinging, observers can also identify sadness, anger, happiness, and pride.
Don't
Talk the Talk
Half
of all pedestrians on phones engage in dangerous road-crossing behavior,
crossing when cars approach and pausing at the roadside when traffic comes to a
standstill. Talking on the phone requires active engagement, drawing your focus
away from your environment.
I'll Walk How
She's Walking
A
woman's walk correlates with her ability to reach orgasm. By observing stride
length, fluidity of movement, and hip swaying, sexologists were 82 percent
accurate in picking out women who could reach vaginal orgasm, according to a
study in The Journal of Sex Medicine. Their tell? Orgasmic women had
"free, unblocked energetic flow from the legs through the pelvis." As
for men, you can often tell their sexual orientation by their walk, according
to a study at UCLA. Gay men sway their hips, while straight men swagger—as do
lesbians.
Unmistaken
Identity
We
can identify friends by their walk. Observers did better than chance at
identifying themselves and acquaintances by observing speed, rhythm,
bounciness, arm swing, and length of steps.
Walkers with
Walkers
How
fast you move is influenced by unconscious factors. When elderly people were
primed with positive-aging words ("wise," "astute"), they
walked 9 percent faster.
Advice for the
Ambler
Walking
is an art. How to get the most out of your stride:
Make
the grade. If you want to burn fat, incorporate an incline. Whether you're
outdoors or on a treadmill, choose a hilly route.
Eyes
on the prize. Keep your eyes forward,
trained on a spot roughly 20 feet in front of you. Keep your chin parallel to
the ground to minimize strain on your neck and back.
Posture,
posture.
To get the ideal posture, try shrugging once, then let your shoulders fall to a
comfortable position.
All
about the arms.
Your arms deserve as much attention as your legs, since arm speed determines
leg speed. Bend your arms 90 degrees to create a pendulum motion as you speed
up your step.
Roll
with it.
Strike with the heel, roll through the step, and give a good push off with your
back foot. To walk faster, don't lengthen your stride; rather, increase the
number of small steps you take
- Mina Shaghaghi
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