Stressed? Go for a walk

My favorite place to walk

Are you dealing with too much stress?

Too much stress can lead to disease, to lowered immune function AND to harmful behaviors, like stress-eating or overconsuming alcohol.

Taking a 30-minute walk could be a big help.

Take a look at your stress load.

Maybe you have too much psychological stress. You’re constantly worried or anxious about problems at home or on the job. Maybe your finances are causing anxiety or the threat of job-layoffs has you working overtime with little reward. Or you’ve got issues with your children or your family.

Maybe you also have physical stress–you’re battling a chronic illness, you’re regularly sleep-deprived or you’re overexercising and overdieting.

You could easily have WAY more stress than is good for you.

And unless you’re doing something about that stress, it could be aging you, depleting your immune system and lowering your resistance against both minor infections and cancers, too.

No, the answer’s not to run a marathon! Or to work your tail off at the gym.

But a little of the right kind of cardio can be a good thing.

Walking: The case for moderate cardio!

According to a position statement in the journal, Exercise Immunology Review, acute intensive exercise results in depressed immune function. Although this condition is temporary, people who fail to recover after intensive training sessions may experience a chronic immune system depression which could compromise their resistance to infection. 

In part two of this statement, the authors suggest that regular moderate exercise could ameliorate the negative effects of chronic stress on health.

What’s more, a study published in the journal, Medicine and science in sports and exercise, reported that healthy women who regularly walked enjoyed improved immunity after a 30-minute walk.

So even if your goal is fat loss, it makes sense to make time for moderate cardio like walking.

If you’re a stress-eater, walking could help you lose unwanted pounds.  Walking–especially in nature, in pleasing surroundings–can relax you and ease your stress, so you’re less likely to grab food impulsively.

The cardio conundrum

These days, a lot of personal trainers are keen on high-intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT speeds fat loss and may condition your cardiovascular system better than steady-state cardio (where you heart rate remains pretty much level, beginning to end). 

I like and do HIIT cardio. It cuts my cardio time in half and gets me out of the gym faster. Plus, focusing on one interval at a time makes the time go by faster.

But I also make time for a walk through the park. At a moderate pace.

Go ahead and laugh, but I’m easing my stress and cutting my stress-eating!