Transcription
Translator: Hani Eldalees
While most people avoid spending the night in jail, Jean Beliveau embraced the opportunity. For the past three years, Beliveau has been walking from country to country, with the goal of circumnavigating the globe on foot. This requires sleeping in tents, strangers' homes, and the occasional jail cell along the way.
But this morning, as Beliveau was ready to depart, the police chief, who had agreed to his sleeping arrangements, was nowhere to be found, and the guards didn't believe his story. Few people have the time or inclination to walk such extreme lengths.
However, research shows that adding a modest amount of walking to your daily routine can significantly improve your health. So, what exactly happens to your body when you increase your daily step count?
A single afternoon stroll can boost your mood and alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. Walking, especially at a brisk pace, is thought to trigger the release of pain-relieving endorphins and limit the release of the stress hormone cortisol.
Within weeks of adding more steps to your routine, your body adapts. Although walking may seem simple, it requires coordination and effort from many muscles in your legs, torso, and back. To keep up with the increased energy demand, vessels around these muscles are remodeled to supply more oxygen. At the same time, your heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood. Within a few months, these changes can lead to lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of heart attack and stroke.
Carrying your body weight while walking puts stress on your bones. But this stress actually makes bones stronger, as it stimulates the absorption of calcium and minerals. This is why years of consistent walking can help maintain bone density, which typically declines with age.
Building a lifelong walking habit comes with many other benefits, from helping to manage weight to reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, many cancers, and dementia. Simply put, walking is exercise. And unlike other forms, it requires no equipment and is often accessible to people of various ages and fitness levels.
While activity trackers typically consider 10,000 steps an ideal benchmark, studies show that any increase in daily steps can yield health benefits. And these steps don't need to be taken continuously. For those living in walkable neighborhoods, steps accumulate easily throughout the day; walking to work, to the grocery store, or to meet friends.
And living where shops and amenities are easily accessible on foot comes with its own set of perks. Residents in these communities are often less reliant on vehicles, which translates to improved air quality and reduced local greenhouse gas emissions. It can also change the way you see the world. One study of older adults in Hong Kong found those living in more walkable neighborhoods reported feeling less lonely and more satisfied with life than those living in less walkable neighborhoods.
So, why doesn't everyone walk more? One major reason is that many people lack access to safe, well-maintained places to stroll. Despite the known benefits of walking, many cities and towns have been designed with driving alone in mind. State and local governments worldwide often prioritize funding for highways and roads over sidewalks and public parks.
And even where walkable spaces exist, the routes to get to them aren't always pedestrian-friendly. In the United States, residential and commercial zones are typically zoned separately and often connected only by busy roads.
But there are ways to make places more foot-friendly. In 2013, Vancouver city officials opened the Comox-Helmcken Greenway, taking a 2-kilometer stretch and transforming it into a walkable and bikeable space. Studies found that after its opening, people living near the greenway exercised more, reduced their daily car trips by 23%, and lowered their personal greenhouse gas emissions by 21%.
And even small measures can help. In places like Bethel, Vermont, for example, community members have improved the walkability of their downtown areas by adding simple features like painted crosswalks and sidewalk extensions.
As for Beliveau, the guards eventually let him out. He walked over 75,000 kilometers in total to complete his journey. But clearly, you don't have to take that many steps to see an impact.