Due to the technological change the world is going through, not many people are walking anymore. There are millions of cars for you to choose from, ranging from cheap ones to more expensive variants. This fact alone significantly reduces the number of people who walk daily. About 93% of households have stated that they have at least one vehicle.
Although this has helped humanity in every aspect of living, transportation has affected other parts like health. As much as you love using your vehicle to move from place to place, try as much as possible to do some walking once in a while.
Here are 10 facts about walking that you may not have known
1. It Has Always Been a Competitive Sport
As you may know, humans have been walking for millions of years. We need to walk to move from place to place.
The people back then always used walking as a competitive sport, competing to see who can walk the farthest. It wasn’t until a century ago that people finally made it an Olympic sport. It started in 1907, to be more precise. This simple walking race involves walking a distance ranging from 20km to 50km.
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2. The Average Number of Steps People Take Daily
Whether it’s out of our car to our place of work or a few steps to another destination, we all need to walk. The average number of steps people take worldwide is about 4967 steps.
Another exciting thing for you to know is that Indians take way fewer steps than the average stated above. A study estimated that the average American only takes about 3000 steps a day. Interestingly, the country that takes the most steps is also an Asian country.
Despite the technological advancements Hong Kong has made in transportation, its citizens are still the most active. The average citizen of Hong Kong walks about 6880 steps daily. China and Ukraine closely followed, averaging 6180 and 6107 steps, respectively.
3. Humans were Initially Meant to Walk on All Fours
If you look around, you would see a lot of four-legged mammals and even other animals. The fact is that humans also walked on all fours at one point in time. Many scientists have conducted several studies proving the fact that humans are meant to walk on all fours.
Inference from the experiments in these studies states that the human spine isn’t meant to be vertical as many people believe. It also has some trouble taking the strain of walking on only two legs. This is the leading reason why you see so many people experiencing back pain.
4. It May Reduce the Chance of Getting Heart Problems
Cardiovascular conditions like heart attacks are hazardous and can lead you to life-threatening situations. Luckily, one way you can reduce your chances of getting heart issues is by walking. Many studies show that walking can significantly help to keep your cardiovascular health in check.
5. It Dramatically Improves your Health
Your health is the crucial thing to take care of. When you don’t take care of your health, you can develop multiple health complications. Luckily, research shows that walking can significantly improve your health. It can reduce your risk of getting diabetes and brittle bones. Brisk walking even helps you to relieve your stress and cope with depression.
6. Doing it Sideways Reduces More Weight
Surprisingly, walking sideways as an exercise helps to burn way more calories than walking straight. Scientists have conducted some studies to prove that. It is because your body is not used to walking sideways and would expend way more energy to adjust to this change.
7. Putting one foot in front of the other on a Paved Road Takes Less Energy
Many people don’t know this, but putting one foot in front of the other on a rough road takes far more energy than doing it on a paved road as paved roads tend to be more smooth. Hence, the legs move less, which means less energy is expended.
8. Doing it a bit more makes you lose substantial amounts of fat
This is a rather fun fact for you to know. Walking for an extra thirty minutes each day can make you shed about 7 pounds of fat by the end of the year.
9. It’s One of the Most Popular Forms of Exercise in America
America is home to a lot of fitness-conscious people. Some surveys show that their go-to warm-up exercise is walking. They tend to walk to the gym, which takes about thirty minutes. It alone makes it the most popular activity in America.
10. Humans’ Average Walking Speed is 3.1 Miles Per Hour
The last fact for you to know is that the average walking speed for humans is about 3.1 miles every hour. So, staying within this range as a form of exercise is excellent.
The Verdict
Walking will forever be a fantastic sport, whether as a warm-up or as a form of exercise. That said, the above ten fun facts about walking you may not have known earlier. Hopefully, these facts would help you understand more about walking.
Watch this space for updates in the Facts category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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