After having chosen your best place to walk, let us consider some tips to choose the best time of the day when you should take up walking as an exercise. Taking your brisk stroll at a time, you find most suitable, is the best time to walk
However, the following tips to choose the right timewill be of help. They will help you to derive the most health benefits from this exercise, which incidentally, are too good to ignore.
The best time to walk would be the time you feel most comfortable. This is important because you want to take it up as a regular feature and enjoying it and staying motivated should be given first priority.
Secondly, some of us enjoy walking better in a company. This helps to make walking a daily habit. The best time of the day, therefore, is the best time that makes you want to go for that walk.
Thirdly, always walk after you have emptied your bowels. Walking, like running causes increased bowel movements and cramps. This can be avoided if your bowels are empty and it will also ensure a walk without a break.
Lastly, you should make sure you are using the right footwear to make your walking comfortable.
Morning Walk
If you are an early riser, getting up and going for a brisk 30 to 45 minutes walk is great for physical and mental wellbeing. Being consistent is important.
Morning walks tend to start your day in a motivational mood. It makes you face the day with eagerness.
The best time to walk in the morning is 5 am to 7 am before having breakfast.
Advantages of the morning walk
The air is fresher and relatively non-polluted.
Any extension of your daily schedule at work will not let you miss your walk.
It keeps you mentally and physically in a better and more vibrant mood during the day.
Metabolism rate is raised after walking and you, therefore, burn more calories during the day.
Exposure to the soft morning sun gives your health a real boost. Sunlight gives you the much-needed vitamin D, which is so necessary for your body’s health. Vitamin D helps in the absorption of minerals, maintenance of strong bones and teeth, prevention of multiple diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis, improves your immune system, and more.
Disadvantages of the morning walk
Your body is comparatively stiff and has a lower temperature and, therefore, an extra warming up is necessary.
Because of stiff muscles and joints in the morning, you are more prone toinjury.
Secondly, some of us are planning the routine of the day and the mental tensions of work are more in the morning. Such a mental setup may not be conducive to walking or any exercise for that matter.
Evening Walk
An evening walk after a hard day’s work seems like a good idea to destress. There are advantages and disadvantages and you should do what suits you best.
Advantages of an evening walk
Your muscles and joints are more flexible and you are able to walk a little more distance and faster.
An evening walk helps in better regulation of dinner.
It will help you go to sleep quicker due to fatigue.
Disadvantages of an evening walk
You may miss out on your walk more often due to evening engagements.
Pollution in the air is more in the evening than in the morning.
You may miss out on the vitamin D supply from the sun, especially if your job involves indoor work.
The best time to walk, therefore, is the time you feel is the best, most comfortable, and most convenient. It can be a morning walk on a particular day or an evening on another day.
The advantages and disadvantages don’t matter in comparison to the need of making walking, a regular and daily affair.
Why avoid walking after a meal?
After a meal, more blood flows to the stomach to facilitate digestion. This is the body’s normal mechanism. You should, therefore, avoid walking after a meal.
The reason for this is that when you walk after a meal more blood will flow to the muscles of the legs, which are being exercised rather than to the stomach.
Consequently, blood that flows to the stomach to help in the digestion process will be diverted to the muscles. Your digestion process will slow down and not be optimum.
It is, therefore, advised to walk before a meal and not after. You should wait for two hours at least after a meal to take your walk.
