Hello! I'm Andrea Furlan,
a pain physician in Toronto, Ontario. Today, I'm going to take you for a walk!
This is a beautiful day here in Toronto, in December,
and I'm going to give you 15 reasons why you should be getting out today and going for a walk.
Walking is an excellent exercise, not just for the body, but for the mind, and for the spirit.
So let's go! Come with me for a walk today!
The first reason why we go for a walk is because walking is an excellent aerobic activity.
Aerobic exercise means that you will be consuming more oxygen. Your lungs will be breathing faster.
Your heart will be beating faster. Aerobic activity can be mild, moderate, or high intensity.
If you can't talk when you are doing aerobic activity, it means that you
are in the high intensity. So, we will keep our walk today between mild and moderate intensity.
The second reason for walking is because we are activating the parasympathetic autonomic
nerve system. Remember? I talked to you in the relaxation video that we have the sympathetic
and the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system, and activating the parasympathetic means you're
reducing the stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. You're activating more the relaxation,
the rest and digest system which is the parasympathetic nerve system. We'll talk about
this a lot during this walking activity. Walking is excellent for relaxing the body and the mind.
So the third reason is. This is really good! It's because when you walk you are actually promoting
nerve growth. This means that the neurons will be growing. You will be releasing some substances
in your brain that makes neurons regenerate, and create more synapses. Imagine that this can even
prevent cognitive impairment like dementia, forgetfulness, and improve concentration.
The fourth reason is one of the reasons why i walk. It is because of myofacial
trigger points. Trigger points are those trigger points in the muscles that hurt.
I have those, and walking promotes circulation of blood to the muscles, and if you want to reduce
trigger points from myofascial pain syndrome, When I go for a walk like a 30 minute walk these
trigger points are reduced. The amount of trigger points, the intensity of the trigger points.
And I just stopped here because this is one of my favorite places of my ravine. Here
where I walk there is a little bridge here, and this is my favorite place, I usually stop here
to do some meditation, relaxation, and look at this! Isn't this beautiful? It's beautiful in the
winter, in the summer, in the spring, all year. So if you have a place that you go for a walk,
just enjoy, because is nature is wonderful! Okay, let's talk about the next reason.
Let's keep walking! The next reason
why we walk, and I like to walk during the day, you see? Because there is the sun here.
So a little bit of sun exposure, of course this is winter, it's december in Canada, and I cann’t
be on my short sleeves, but if you can, wherever you are, you can expose your skin a little bit to
the sun. It doesn't need to be too much, and you will be making vitamin D. Remember I have another
video that I talk about vitamin D. The benefits for people. Not just for people who have pain,
but for anyone. That you should be taking some sun bath, and making some vitamin D.
I just stopped here for the next reason because I love this place. Look at the color
of these branches behind me. They're red, and I love this color. Here this reminds me that
walking is also good for sleeping. Yes, if you want to improve your sleep,
produce more melatonin it's also related to the sun exposure so the sun being exposed on our eyes
our brain will produce more melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that informs our brain that it's
time to sleep. So, if you want to have a better night of sleep, go for a walk during the day.
Let's keep walking. So now I'm going uphill, and uphill means that we'll be doing more, the muscles
in my legs will be requiring more oxygen. This is good to bring the next reason which is to improve
circulation of blood in the lower extremities. So, when you go uphill your muscles in the leg,
they need more oxygen, so this means that the arteries that bring oxygen to the muscles, they
need to be expanding, and actually the more you walk the more arteries are opened in the muscles,
not only the muscles but everywhere, because you need to bring more oxygen to the body. So when
a person comes to me and they have circulation problems, I usually recommend them start walking.
You start five minutes, 10 minutes, increase to 20, 30 minutes, and this will open more arteries
in the muscles that will bring oxygen to the muscle. So, this is good for circulation problems.
So now that I came downhill, we are going to talk about the next reason which is constipation,
digestion. Yes, walking improves, tells the bowels, improves your digestion. Improves
constipation because it tells the bowels that you're moving,
it's activating the parasympathetic autonomic nerve system, which is the rest and digest system,
and so if you're having problem with constipation, you can't have a bowel movement regularly,
maybe you need to get up and go for a walk. Walking outside in the nature is super nice,
but if you can't, you can also get a treadmill and start walking at home.
Another reason is motion is lotion! You already heard me saying that, right? And
this means that when you walk, you are lubricating the joints,
lubricating the joints of your knees, your hips, your ankles,
your spine. If you have problem of osteoarthritis, or any problem of arthritis, or joint pain,
walking is great because then your joints will be producing more synovial fluid, and this means that
they will be lubricating the joints, and reducing the chances of you developing more arthritis.
Here is another great reason! A great reason is for our eyes. Actually if you stay too much
inside of your house, looking at the computer, tv, or even reading, you're straining your eyes,
and if you're straining too much your eyes, you need to stop and look ahead, at least 20
meters ahead. And look at this tree! Isn't that beautiful? I usually stop here and I look at that
tree because it is just amazing. Well!, so if you go outside, you'll be looking at a distance,
and it will be reducing the strain in your eyes, and that's another benefit of walking outside.
What about posture? Posture is important. We want to keep our posture.Walk upright. I
know for people who have spinal stenosis, and I talk about this in my other video, about spinal
stenosis that people who have this condition, they have difficulty walking upright, in that
case if they can bend a little bit and walk like this, it's okay, as long as they walk. So
for posture problems, if you can walk with your chin up, looking ahead,
keep your tummy in, your shoulders relaxed, you'll be doing some exercise for your posture anyways.
So that's another good reason to walk. Did you know that walking also improves
creativity? Yes! There has been some studies showing that people who had been walking for
at least 30 minutes, when they come back, they're more creative. That's because there's more blood
oxygenation to the brain. Of course! And then also because when you're walking you probably are
imagining things, you're thinking, and you are not so worried about things
around you, and especially if you walk around nature and then that will boost your creativity.
And this brings me to the next reason why we walk. It is because it reduces stress,
we know that if you are under a lot of stress, and a lot of deadlines, and things to do,
if you just go for a walk, without any agenda, just get outside, if you have a pet, a dog, walk
with your dog that will reduce stress immensely. And this there is another reason. Because there
are many studies, and I talk about this in my video about depression and pain, we
know that walking is one of the therapies that we recommend for our patients who have chronic pain,
because a lot of people have depression. Depressed mood, they are sad, and we know walking improves
their ability to think better, to improve the mood hormones, like serotonin. It boosts serotonin.
So there is another reason, good reason for people with chronic pain to walk.
And last, but not least, we recommend a lot of our patients to do meditation,
mindfulness, and there is a great opportunity for you to do this when you are walking. I usually put
my earphones, and I listen to music. I love to listen to praise and worship, and gospel music,
and I go for a walk, so I’ll be doing this for my body, my mind, and for my spirit.
So, I hope you enjoyed this video, and that motivates you to go for a walk
outside, especially if you can go, and let me know in the comments below if you did this
exercise. How did this work for you? I would love to hear that! And let's go for a walk!
Let me know! Bye.