Walking is one of the easiest, lowest-impact ways to exercise — free, requires no equipment, and brings real benefits for the heart, mood and weight. Just 150 minutes a week of brisk walking meets the WHO's adult activity guideline. Below, we look at what walking does for your body and mind, and how to get the most from each step.
What are the benefits of walking?
Let’s start with how many calories we actually burn during a brisk walk, and how this compares to running.
Firstly, running:
- A young adult of average build (5ft 10 and 80kgs), running for 26 minutes at around 7mph will burn approximately 370 calories and cover 3 miles.
And walking:
- This same young adult, walking 3 miles briskly (3mph) would burn approximately 270 calories
Below is a table, calculated for an average adult, on the calories burnt depending on your speed walked and length of time.
| Time walked | Speed (mph) | Calories burnt |
| 1 hour | 3.5 | 337 kcal |
| 1.5 hours | 3.5 | 505 kcal |
| 2 hours | 3.5 | 674 kcal |
| 2.5 hours | 3.5 | 842 kcal |
Clearly, the calorie burn when running is greater due to the larger muscle mass recruited and speed of movement. It can be up to 2x more calories burned depending on the individual. However, this is only one benefit of running over walking, and there are changes you can make to your walking to improve the number of calories burnt.
For example:
- Hill walking
- Nordic walking (walking with poles, steep hills)
- Cross country walking (walking on flats and hills)
- Treadmill walking at an incline
These types of walking can greatly increase the calories burned which is beneficial, as the more calories we burn, the better chance we have of losing/maintaining our weight.
So what about the physical health benefits to walking?
Physically, it can reduce the risk of:
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular diseases (Heart failure, heart disease, aneurysm etc)
- Other chronic diseases
These findings are also very prevalent for those over 75, with results for this group linking very strongly to reduced risks of disease if walking daily.
And what about the psychological benefits of walking?
- Walking in nature helps stimulate the brain and release endorphins
- Those who walk in green spaces and nature gain more psychological benefits, especially if you live in an urban area
- Thus it improves our general mood and outlook on life
- Decreases the chance of depression and anxiety for the individual
- Walking out in the open spaces reduces the feelings of time pressure and stress
Whilst walking alone may be enjoyable, walking with others (a friend or walking group) has more benefits!
- Walking with others reduces the feelings of exhaustion
- You have social interaction which can produce positive hormones such as endorphins
- Motivation to more regularly walk and walk further
- Therefore more physical activity and more calories burned!
How many minutes, or hours a week should we try to walk?
Depending on our age, fitness levels, and health, what we can actively do each week will vary. The WHO recommends we try to do:
- At least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week
- Or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week
- If we were to walk briskly for 150 minutes a week, you would hit this recommendation
When we have sufficient fitness levels and/or are able to exercise more, the WHO also recommend upping our activity levels to:
- Moderate activity of 300 minutes a week (walking or similar)
- Or 150 minutes a week of more vigorous activity (HIIT workouts, cycling, etc)
- Or, a mixture of both moderate and vigorous activity for 150 minutes a week
But what about 10,000 steps a day? Well, this ‘myth’ comes from a pedometer sold many years ago in Japan, where the catchy name for the product translated to 10,000 steps, but was not medically proven to be the step goal.
So why not running?
Choosing to run, or not, is a choice for everyone. Some may find it uncomfortable, difficult and not enjoyable for reasons such as:
- You are new to exercise and haven’t built up fitness levels
- It is uncomfortable due to being heavier or larger
- You find it boring and monotonous
- Exercising in other ways is what you like to do
- Your age
As well as this, running is higher impact and more strenuous and can lead too:
- Shin splints
- Stress fractures
- ITB friction syndrome
- Strains and sprains
Those who walk have a low chance of injury (1-5%), whereas runners is much higher (20-70%). If you are unsure about starting to run but think you may want too, consult your doctor and a professional running shop as footwear is important.
In conclusion, brisk walking is a great way to improve both our physical and mental health, and just 150 minutes a week can have excellent benefits! Certainly, if you are older or new to exercise, begin with walking and reap the rewards!
Studies discussed in article
https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/physical-activity-recommendations-18-64years.pdf
Johansson, M., Hartig, T. and Staats, H. (2011) ‘Psychological Benefits of Walking: Moderation by Company and Outdoor Environment’, Applied psychology : health and well-being, 3(3), pp. 261–280
https://iaap-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2011.01051.x
Kritz, M. et al. (2021) ‘"it's better together": A nested longitudinal study examining the benefits of walking regularly with peers versus primarily alone in older adults’, Journal of aging and physical activity, 29(3), pp. 455–465.
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/japa/29/3/article-p455.xml
Zhao, W. et al. (2015) ‘Health benefits of daily walking on mortality among Younger-Elderly men with or without major critical diseases in the new integrated suburban seniority investigation project: A prospective cohort study’, Journal of epidemiology, 25(10), pp. 609–616.