A 40 Minutes Walk For 60 Days Transformed My life. You Can Try It Too

A walk has many beneficial effects and everyone should try it

Why I began to walk

Walking has a lot of advantages. You just have to decide to do it and slowly the practice entices you and brings you into its fold. I love my walks and I would like to share my experience as to why I started walking and the benefits I derived.

I was inspired by a post that I read by Sufyan Maan, M.Eng on How Long Walks Will Transform Your Life to share my experience of walking.

Although I was active as I was a professor and had to stand and teach, I did not believe much in walking.

Some evenings I would meet friends and go out for coffee or have some fun after a hard day of work. I loved to watch movies and therein ended the time.

Academic work is quite exhausting and as you know there is a lot of homework to be done in order to teach. You had to read a lot before you can actually go into a class.

One day I had a pain in my back and then in my legs and I did not have good sleep so I started feeling sleep-deprived. I decided to see a doctor. He just prescribed some medicines for pains in the muscles and some sleep tablets for sleeping.

The pain went away and I slept like a zombie. I woke up feeling refreshed. I thought this was it and I was perfectly well.

The pains had gone away temporarily and the good sleep was also temporary. These medicines were addictive and if I did not take them the pain would begin to revisit me and my sleep was very poor.

One fine day, I mentioned to some friends that I was in a bad health condition, and while standing and teaching also I was having pains in my legs and would feel like sitting down. Since I had strong willpower, I refrained from sitting but was writing in pain.

One of my friends advised me to start walking every day. Of course, I had many excuses. Days are busy! Evenings are family and friends and study time so when should I walk? She did not care! She said that it was for me to figure out because it was my problem.

I started walking

A week later I decided to begin walking and see if it had any effect. Let me tell you about my week-by-week experience and its effect on my body.

Week 1: In the first week I could walk only for 20 minutes a day. Being active during the day is different from walking. When you are walking it has to be focused. I was just looking here and there and wondering why I should walk. My shoes were uncomfortable too. I had no effect at all.

Week 2: My son is a great fitness enthusiast. He suggested that I buy Nike walking shoes to become comfortable in my walks. I took his advice and I must say it made a difference to my feet and I could walk better.

Week 3: I increased my walk time to 30 minutes. Now I could spare 30 minutes in the evening and walk and I had started enjoying it too. I was focused and would not stop socializing. I would talk to my friends and neighbors after I finished walking.

Week4: In week 4 my pains started reducing and I could carry on with the day without feeling a pinch in my body. This is it I thought! After seeing the advantage. I was encouraged and happy too.

From week 5 onwards I was walking for 40 minutes. Now I was having fun walking. My speed had increased and I did not get tired. My body became more active. I started doing a brisk walk and enjoying it too.

What were the beneficial effects?

#1. I was active throughout the day and I could work far more than I used to work earlier. Looking after 3 children and a full-time job, I was able to work on my research papers for a longer time than I could earlier.

#2. The pains in my body soon started melting away and I was healed of the pains. I was flexible and could easily move my arms and legs with ease.

#3. My sleep was much better. It was less disturbing and I did not feel sleep-deprived. I got my 5 and a half hours of sleep which I require for my health needs.

#4. In addition, the digestive problems I used to suffer from were also in check. I could eat well.

#5. Although I always had a slim body now it looked much more toned and better.

#6. I became calm and felt little stress. I could work on my challenges without flying on a handle. I could work better.

What can we learn from my experience?

The learnings from my 60 days of walking are the following:

Begin your walk seriously: If you decide to walk for health reasons you must be focused and walk at least 5 days a week.
Increase your time slowly: Start with a walking time of 20 minutes. It looks too little but it has a lot of advantages. It begins to loosen your muscles and makes way for boosting your activity level.
Wear comfortable shoes: The walking shoes should be very comfortable. I now like sketchers because they are light in weight but it is your choice what you want to buy.
Enjoy your walk: You must bring joy to your walk to make it beneficial. In the beginning, I did not enjoy it. It was just an activity to be performed. I felt no benefits. Quick results in walking come in when you begin to enjoy your walk.
Walks can be in a group or solitary: Two friends joined me and we walked in a group sometimes if all were free or solitary if the others did not come. Then I found that I began to enjoy my walks a lot and the joy started making it more beneficial.

To conclude

Walking has immense benefits. Some of my friends suffering from anxiety, depression, leg ache, diabetes, and blood pressure have reported benefits to me.

Research from the center of aging at Colorado State University shows that it has physical and mental benefits.

I can speak with experience after walking for 60 days for 40 minutes every day that it completely transformed my life.

Ever since I have always found time for my walks and have walked at least 5 times a week every day. It is now at least 30 years since I first decided to walk.

I absolutely agree with the following quote:

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, (Twilight of the Idols)

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