Happy new year, everyone!
Here we go! The first of our monthly themed challenges that hopefully will motivate us to get out there and explore something about walking on a walk!
The first chapter of the book “52 ways to walk” by Annabel Street covers all sorts of things when walking in the cold.
★★★So our challenge this month is to go out for a walk in the cold and be more conscious of what it does to our bodies.★★★
Because, in essence, every walker should embrace the cold - it’s good for you (and we are talking about moderate but not extreme cold). And it still means: layer up.
Our bodies are made for lower temperatures: ice, snow and cold have been used for centuries for healing; Egyptians knew cold water reduces inflammation; and medieval monks knew ice could be used as an anaesthetic. And today, winter exercise is known to reduce allergies and asthma.
Another benefit has to do with different kinds of fat. Shorts-wearing runners acquire extra layers of fat - the good kind of fat! The good fat (“brown fat”) is the fat that is highly effective in burning fat! I know, right? So thin people seem to have more brown fat than the larger kinds of people. They burn more burnable (bad) fat. And brown fat (the good fat) is also involved in processes that convert food into energy and help muscles to repair. Studies show that 2 hours are proven to be the duration where lower temperatures trigger the conversion into brown fat. And this conversion is triggered in quite reasonable cool-ish temperatures as high as 14-15 degrees Celsius.
Besides this, cold temperatures help us think more clearly. And a spot of cold de-stresses us. This reminded me of why cold-water swimming is increasing in popularity! And why do those crazy swimmers emerge from those quick dips into the icy sea or river waters and come out so smiling and happy?
So also for us walkers and runners, this should mean we might as well embrace the colder season for our walks, and as Annabel Street suggests
“… we should welcome the colder months as an exhilarating time to walk. … Our beneficial brown fat is urged into action. To top it all, we build endurance: in lower temperatures our hearts don't have to work so hard and we sweat less, meaning our bodies work more efficiently.”
And if you can bear it, on your winter walks, when cosily layered up with gloves and a warm hat, you might try exposing your forearms (keeping gloves on) to get that valuable Vitamin D, and also the neck area (keeping the hat on), activating the development of brown fat. And if you brought a hot thermos full of coffee, you can be reassured that the caffeine helps activate the brown fat, besides feeling that on that long, cold winter walk it is the most delicious coffee you have had the pleasure of drinking.
So join me on a winter walk this month? (NOTE: and it doesn’t have to be 2 hours! Any time is good.)
= * = * = * = * = * = * = * = *
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE COMMUNITY:
Wendy Bumgardner's 10k training schedule for beginner walkers verywellfit.com/10k-walk-tr...
