The Walk With a Doc (WWAD) program encourages healthy physical activity in people of all ages by organizing physician-led walks with patients. The walks are an opportunity for physicians to encourage an active lifestyle and answer patients’ health-related questions in an environment less intimidating than the exam room. Mostly, it’s a way to get patients moving, because — as WWAD points out — there are 100 benefits to walking:
- Reduces blood pressure
- Lowers cholesterol
- Increases the concentration of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good” cholesterol in the blood)
- Reduces chances for coronary heart disease
- Increases efficiency of heart and lowers resting heart rate
- Makes heart muscle stronger
- Improves contractile function of the heart
- Strengthens lungs
- Improves respiratory function
- Improves cardiovascular endurance and performance
- Provides more oxygen to the body, including organs and muscles
- Provides more nutrient supply to the body
- Reduces chance of stroke (by up to 50 percent)
- Helps alleviate varicose veins
- Increases metabolic rate
- Stimulates digestion
- Makes digestion more efficient
- Stimulates intestinal movements, resulting in better elimination of wastes
- Reduces chances for colon cancer
- Strengthens and develops muscles
- Increases efficiency of muscles
- Benefits joints due to stronger muscles
- Helps maintain cartilage health in the joints
- Eases muscular tension
- Alleviates back problems
- Increases muscle flexible and agility
- Improves speed of muscle contraction and reaction time
- Enhances skin health by opening skin pores while walking, resulting in more efficient removal of dirt and impurities
- Burns up and removes toxins from the body
- Increases blood flow to the brain
- Stimulates growth of nerve cells in the memory center of the brain
- Improves various indexes of psychological functioning
- Enhances brain functioning by increasing the amount of oxygen available to it
- Increases sense of well-being
- Increases resistance to pain because endorphin levels are elevated
- Increases sense of excitement because hormone epinephrine is elevated
- Alleviates boredom
- Lessens worry and tension
- Reduces stress by removing lactic acid from the blood
- Alleviates anxiety and/or pain because the tranquilizing effect of exercise lasts for several hours
- Enhances mood
- Provides an excellent opportunity to enhance one’s social network
- Boosts energy
- Improves self-esteem and self-confidence as body and mind are improved and strengthened
- Increases one’s sense of self-control
- Provides a source of pleasure and fun
- Releases anger and negative emotions
- Reduces depression more effectively than short- or long-term psychotherapy
- Enhances coordination, power, timing, and balance
- Boosts immune system functioning
- Reduces severity of asthma
- Improves functioning of organs
- Can relieve tension headaches
- Can reduce the urge to smoke because the adrenaline rush and stress relief from a brief workout can replace similar feelings smokers get from tobacco
- Burns calories
- Causes the body to use calories more efficiently
- Causes weight loss
- Allows one to keep lost weight from returning
- Can act as an appetite suppressant
- Decreases fat tissue
- Improves physical appearance
- Enhances one’s image and opinion of his or her body
- Improves bone density and prevents osteoporosis
- Reduces joint discomfort
- Helps manage arthritis
- Allows one to feel better about his or her body and enjoy sex more as a result
- Provides an enhanced ability to achieve orgasm
- Allows for greater sexual satisfaction
- Can reduce or eliminate impotence due to increased blood flow
- Prevents or manages type 2 diabetes
- Helps insulin work better, lowering blood sugar
- Has a significant salutary effect on fibrinogen levels
- Alleviates menstrual cramps
- Improves athletic performance
- Can add years to one’s life
- Enhances quality of life
- Reduces pain and disability
- Improves glycogen storage
- Reduces risk of developing certain types of cancers of the colon, prostate, uterine lining, and breast, and other chronic diseases
- Regulates hormones
- Allows one to overcome illness or injury more quickly
- Can lessen medical bills
- Reduces anxiety by causing fewer worries about health
- Can allow for better performance at work
- Allows one to stay independent as he or she gets older
- Can keep health care insurance premiums lower
- Makes one more attractive to potential mates
- Allows for a healthy pregnancy
- Increases energy and ability to do things one likes
- Allows one to be more productive and less stymied by stress and depression
- Can help make possible increased income due to increased energy
- Allows one to become more familiar with his or her body and its functioning
- Can stimulate one mentally
- Lets one eat more without gaining weight
- Provides a healthy break from work
- Adds variety and spice to life
- Gives one increased ability to defend oneself and loved ones if needed
- Provides a natural high afterwards, such as runners’ high
- Provides heightened alertness
- Reduces inflammation
The Texas Medical Association brings the Walk With a Doc Texas program to TMA member physicians for free. If you would like more information about the WWAD Texas program, contact Debra Heater at (512) 370-1390 or debra.heater@texmed.org.
This list originally appeared in a Walk With a Doc newsletter. The Walk With a Doc program is a nonprofit program that encourages anyone interested in taking steps for his or her health to walk with community physicians, specialists, and health care professionals, who provide support and answer questions. In Texas, where there are 24 walk sites, Walk with a Doc is made possible through a grant from TMA Foundation that includes generous gifts from TMA Insurance Trust and Prudential.
• Mayo Clinic
• Georgia State University
• FamilyDoctor.org
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• MedicineNet.com
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