Preferred time of day to do your daily walks

[BaronFrankenstein]

Hi.

I was wondering if anyone has found theres a best time of day for them to do their walks so it doesnt leave them too tired afterwards?

Morning, Afternoon or Evening?

[baly_2023]

Hi ,

during the early phase of my recovery I did my walking at 12pm, this is because my wife wanted to be with me to make sure I was OK.

Now I usually go for an hour walk by myself at 9am, I've always been a morning person and I prefer the light and crisp air.

[7LTR in reply to baly_2023]

4 weeks post OHS op, my wife insists on walking everywhere with me. So I set up our phones, with a find my phone app, so if shes doing something else, I can now walk solo and she can see where I am at all times. Sounded a good idea at the time, but I'm not quite sure it's exactly what I intended....................🤔

[Chinkoflight in reply to 7LTR]

My recovery walks were also frequented by the morning dog walkers. I stopped for a chat one day and got a text after a minute, "are you okay?"!!! The tracker was really re-assuring for my wife for the first few months and gave me independence from being wrapped up in cotton wool. It's a partnership so I guess it's good really. Don't use it now and have gone out for some long walks and runs too. I still record all my exercise on Strava which gives a good idea of my favourite routes just in case a search party is needed!😁 Keep safe!

[Blackcatsooty]

At first I took my main walk each morning and accepted that it would tire me out for the day.

However, once I gave up my muesli or Weetabix and started on porridge, I found I had far more energy. So I could do the walk and then light duties at home throughout the morning. Then dig the garden afternoons. It was a gradual process. Chipped away at fitness and slowly got more capable. I had overlooked diet far too long.

Don’t think it really matters how you organize your day, provided that you can do your walk without straining.

Sooty

[Classof1988 in reply to Blackcatsooty]

Sooty, interesting to see your comment on porridge. I was told a few years ago that I might be constipated even though that did not sound rational, and since then my daily breakfast routine includes porridge/oat bran combination (made with water), green tea, manuka honey, half a grapefruit and a teaspoon of black seed oil. I do some of my morning "walking" in the kitchen especially if the weather is not great but aim to average 3 miles a day over the course of a week. And since something unmentionable tried (unsuccessfully) to take me out in Jan 2021, I have only had one day feeling unwell and I think that could be down to a gall stone. A combination of healthy diet and healthy exercise definitely works.

[Blackcatsooty in reply to Classof1988]

I am currently on a nine month NHS course to avoid diabetes. Having spent most of my life underweight, it is hard to get on to a diet. Big surprise is that I am taught to have no more than two pieces of fruit a day. I have increased porridge to four days a week. Despite being English not Scot’s, I make it with water. Haven’t yet got into salt ! Also eat a few nuts with morning coffee, to keep me filled for the morning.

Very grateful to those who keep the trains on track. I have a main line at the bottom of my garden and the four trains an hour are very reliable. I don’t need a watch, the trains tell me the time.

Sooty

[DWizza]

Hi, I fit my walk in usually when my Lurcher asks 🤣 usually between 11-13:00. It allows me to get some things done in the farm yard , poo picking and wheelbarrowing muck . Lunch after walk . I also do my training at home between 16-18:00 either weights couple of times a week or treadmill running . Achieved 5k 3 times and did 6k last night . Had Nstemi heart attack in July , quadruple CABG on 25th July agrd 61. The best time to train is the when you can fit it in , it’s the consistency that counts 👍🏻

[devonian186]

I find I feel better after walking. I like to kick start the day with one before 9 or so when I use a hiking pole as it helps me to get a better speed and I would hope to do 3000 or so brisk steps. Then I would have several shorter walks and another longer one in afternoon. Altogether I aim for 10000 steps a day but that is difficult with poor weather and dark nights.

It really depends on what you are recovering from or if you have other problems and of course other calls on your time.

[Taviterry]

The day after my TAVI I managed 70 minutes' accumulated walking around the hospital in five different sessions, with no problems. I've been a keen walker since 2000 and in the summer am often out and about at 5 or 6AM. This is partly to avoid rush-hour traffic if I'm driving out into the countryside and to avoid the afternoon heat and sunshine (after a skin cancer scare 10 years ago). I'm conscious of the warnings to people of my age to avoid heat, never mind my heart situation.

We haven't had many frosty mornings yet this winter, but I have wondered whether I'm feeling the cold more (because of blood-thinners?).

Apart from recreational walks, currently of four to five hours, I also walk indirectly for 90 minutes or more to buy a paper from a shop 15 minutes away.

Whatever my activities, I like to have finished them by 1600, after which I have a light tea, listen to and watch several news programmes and watch TV. (I've yet to succumb to daytime TV.)

[Desktop54]

My Husband prefers to do it before taking his tablets.

[7LTR]

When its not raining !

[Happyrosie]

it’s a fab idea to get light onto your face/body early, to set you up for the day especially if you are in nature/the woods/the park. There’s some evidence apparently to suggest it’s better for you, mentally, early. But it’s whatever suits you!

[Taviterry]

For the past year I've had to tweak what was already quite a sensible diet to cope with pre-diabetes, then severe aortic stenosis, now (possibly) haemolytic anaemia, If I'm out for much more than 90 minutes, I need a low-sugar protein bar, a banana or a few apricots, taking something every hour. Another factor is fluctuating energy levels: in late April I seriously doubted whether I could walk from the hospital entrance to the cardiology ward the other side of the building; a week before my TAVI I walked seven hours without a problem!

[baly_2023]

Porridge is the king of breakfast. Have a good bowl with blueberries and a touch of honey and it keeps you going

[BaronFrankenstein in reply to baly_2023]

Interesting and varied replies but thank you!

I have porridge for breakfast with blueberries and raspberries. Been having dried apricots as well. Keep you regular apparently.

[Taviterry]

With forecasts of colder days here in the UK, I'm wondering if the anticoagulants I've been on since July will make me more susceptible to the cold. I had no problems on today's walk, but had put an extra layer on that proved not to be really necessary.

Before Christmas, I had two environmental tasks on cold days, one with frost on the ground, and after an hour so found that my fingers, even in working gloves, were cold; had I been nearer to my car I might have gone home, instead I just worked closer to the bonfire. And on the other task, around midday I had to ask a colleague if it had got colder and he confirmed that it had. (Mind you, he had a stent fitted a couple of years back and takes a daily aspirin.)

[Chinkoflight]

Hi, I started out with morning walks. I run now, before breakfast but after morning cups of tea! I'll also walk again in the afternoon or around the best weather forecast for the day eg when the sun's out! But experiment. Record all your exercise and routes on an app like Strava (free). Link it to a smartwatch and get the data and record your progress. I use it like a diary. Some days are hard, then yesterday I had the best ever run, can't begin to figure out why but I'm looking for patterns. If you have one walk that you repeat say weekly to the metre/yard , make notes how it went, and you will see progress over a few weeks. Do remember that even walking, a strong wind will make a difference. It may add time or blow you home super quick. Or when you plan your walk you might give some thought to whether you start on the flat and end with a slight hill etc. All this works to give a different focus and interest to your exercise. I'm 71, just walked and cycled before my stroke, A to B. Now I have a health improvement focus it's all more interesting to think about what's happening with my cardio vascular system, knowing it's working better than ever, pay back for the health interventions that gave me hope, and I appreciate every aspect of the outdoors even more. Good luck.