As a runner I get lots of people tell me they ‘only walk’. It’s easy to think that walking is inferior to running and to undervalue what walking can do for us. When it comes to menopause, it can actually be very handy.
Walking is not the best activity for bone strengthening as it lacks the impact needed to really stimulate bone production, although it’s better than being still. It’s not such an aerobic work out, most of the time, but it can be if you walk briskly and if you’re carrying a heavy rucksack up a hill, let me tell you it definitely is!
Walking will help you to:
- Be less sedentary and thereby reduce your risk of many major health conditions, in particular, type 2 diabetes.
- Increase your daily step count without having to change into sports kit. This is important for general health.
- Exercise in heart rate zones 1 and 2 where you feel comfortable and can go for a long time.
- Be in a calorie deficit if you’re trying to lose weight or reduce body fat.
- Exercise without high impact which can be helpful if you have painful joints or if you want to increase ‘time on your feet’ when endurance training without doing more running.
- Exercise on days when menopause symptoms are bad. You might not find the motivation or energy to run or you might have tender breasts, aching muscles and not feel able to run. Walking gives you another active option.
- Exercise if you have stress urinary incontinence. Please seek help for this from a women’s health physiotherapist, you can get treatment to allow you to return to high impact exercise.
- Be sociable while you exercise. Social health is vitally important and walking and talking is so beneficial.
- Get headspace and be in nature which is known to benefit mental health.
- An early morning walk can help improve your sleep.
- Fit more exercise into your day in short bursts between other tasks.
As a runner, we might undervalue walking but as a peri or post menopausal runner, we really are missing a trick if we don’t consider it. Why not look for ways to incorporate a bit more walking into your life? That might be swapping out a run occasionally or just looking for ways to bring short walks into your normal day. Short walks on the pavement or big hikes in the hills, there are so many options. Don’t think that because it’s not running that it doesn’t count. It definitely does and the health gains are significant. Are you a runner who walks a lot too? I’d love to hear what benefits walking brings to your life.
Featured image: StockSnap from Pixabay
