Walking Therapy
Exercise, the "Miracle Cure" is the title of a very important report from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in 2015. The American College of Sports Medicine was even more forthright when it published a paper called, “Exercise is Medicine.” All walking is beneficial, even gentle walking particularly
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If you start with others
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It is in a green environment
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If you walk briskly
Brisk walking is even more beneficial because it qualifies as what the Chief Medical Officers of the United Kingdom call, exercise of moderate Intensity namely exercise that makes you breathe a little more quickly but not so quickly that you cannot carry on a conversation while doing so.
There is strong evidence that exercise such as walking is beneficial for all common long-term conditions. It acts as a supplement or a complement or a substitute for drug therapy in the following ways.
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It may have a direct effect on the disease process itself, for example on type 2 diabetes.
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It prevents and reverses the loss of fitness or “deconditioning” that often follows the onset of a long-term condition in part because of the condition, in part because of the well-meaning actions of some relatives who propose “rest” and try to do things for a person newly diagnosed with a long term condition whereas the need for activity increases after the acute phase of a new long term condition is over
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It reduces the risk of other diseases developing alongside the ones that have already developed for example by helping maintain a healthy body weight, and
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It makes you feel better and therefore increases wellbeing in a way that most conventional medical treatment does not.
So how much walking is needed? The answer every minute counts and every step counts, even if it is not done briskly it is always better than sitting. However to optimise the benefit it is good to do 30 minutes a day of brisk walking which does not have to be in one big batch, but can be split up into 5 or 10 minutes, or 4 minutes. For some people 4 minutes of brisk walking is an achievement like Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile in 1954.
There are groups that are able to help people regain confidence for walking, mainly run by the Ramblers or Living Streets or by the local authority. Just search on Health Walks and the name of your town or village and see what comes up.
Walking therapy will in future be routinely prescribed alongside, and sometimes instead of, drug therapy. Modern medication is of great importance and amazing developments have taken place in the treatment of disease through drugs but drugs by themselves are not always the answer. Walking needs to be and will be prescribed and encouraged by the NHS along with, and sometimes instead of, the prescription of drugs.
Dr Gray’s Walking Cure describes the benefits of walking for all the common diseases and it has been designed to be the BNWF the walking equivalent to the formulary for drugs, called the British National Formulary – the BNF. You can plan your own walking therapy but as part of our campaign Let’s Walk More we are working to get a walking prescription linked to every drug prescription.