Take A Walk: The Benefits And Challenges Of Walking For Exercise As An Older Adult

There’s little debate about the positive health benefits that come from walking, whether you take a stroll every evening or you power walk your way to a finish line during a charity walk. Of course, as we’ve previously noted, the more steps you take, the better (though health benefits seem to plateau around 9,000 steps a day), and the more briskly you walk (with intense intervals), the more benefit you’ll get for your health. Prevention magazine recently listed 15 major health benefits from walking, including benefits for your mental health, cardiac health, digestive system, sleep, bones, and even your immune system. By briskly walking as little as 21 minutes a day, you can lower your risk of obesity and, therefore, lower your risk of heart disease. And if you keep at a brisk walking pace, you’ll be able to get in a good cardio workout that raises your heart rate and breathing rate, gets oxygen-rich blood circulating throughout your body, and, unlike running, is easier on your joints and less likely to cause you injury. In fact, Dr. Milica McDowell, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, exercise physiologist, and co-author of the new book Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity—One Step at a Time, asserts that walking beats running when it comes to health benefits. She states, “Walking really is a panacea.” She recommends aiming for 5500-8500 steps per day, though no matter how many steps you walk a day, it’s better than not walking at all. For more on the health benefits to be gained from regular walking, you can find out what you missed by watching a re-run of the McMaster Optimal Aging lecture “Walking your way to better health after age 65,” here.

If you’re concerned about an injury caused by walking, in addition to making sure you have supportive footwear, Prevention suggests taking a few minutes post-walk to stretch the muscles you used while walking. Among the stretches they recommend? Calf raises, hip extenders, and back relaxers (similar to the yoga Cobra stretch). Of course, it’s always important to have strong legs and good balance when you walk, so as a reminder, refresh your memory with these balance and strength exercises here. One additional interesting note about walking, injury, and recovery: A recent study published in The Journal of the American College of Surgeons reports that walking can increase a person’s odds of successful recovery following surgery, regardless of the type of surgery or the patient’s overall health. In this study, for every additional 1000 steps a patient took post-surgery, they had lower odds of complications and lower odds of needing hospital readmission. For more on this study, lace up your sneakers and read here.

But there’s no denying that for many, walking begins to feel more challenging and arduous as you get on in age. Your pace may inevitably slow down, and you may feel more fatigued as you move along. As it turns out, this may not be a problem unique to you, but rather it may be due to your body’s attempt to adopt a more cautious walking strategy, keeping you upright at the expense of moving more efficiently and quickly. According to a new study published in the journal Gait & Posture, as you get older, changes occur in how your ankle and the surrounding muscles function, so that your stability is supported, but your energy efficiency is reduced, and thus you feel tired more easily, and you begin to walk more slowly. You also push off on each step with less power as a result, so you’re likely to have shorter strides and a slower speed. In essence, your ankle joint becomes “locked” as it tries to stabilize your body. So if you’re feeling frustrated that your “age is catching up to you,” you can thank your ankles, surrounding muscles and tendons, and your nervous system all working together to try to keep you stable and upright.  

But one additional study, looking at brief daily strength training for older adults with walking difficulty, suggests that in less than 5 minutes a day, with a minimal home-based exercise routine, you can meaningfully improve your ability to walk (as well as stand up from a chair and stay steady). Published in PLOS One, this new study involved participants over age 65 who spent 12 weeks doing 4 exercises for 30-second intervals, with 30-second rests in between. The exercises were push-ups, chair stands, seated rows with a resistance band, and step-ups (on a small platform). Exercises were modified to meet the abilities of the participant, and after 12 weeks, those doing the exercises had meaningful gains in their ability to walk compared to a control group not exercising. So don’t give up hope of walking well. Instead, prepare to move by reading more about this study here.