RachelBirchley.com
  • Home
  • Contact
    • Cookie Policy
    • Disclosure Policy
  • Blog
    • Food
    • Lifestyle
    • Outdoors
    • Travel

What are the benefits of walking to work?

By Rachel Birchley • 13 May 2015 • Career

This week is Walk to Work Week 2015. The scheme is designed to encourage more people to pound those pavements and get their hearts working and blood pumping, even if it’s just for a week. There are obvious health benefits to taking to the streets rather than being cramped onto the tube or sat in traffic. Living Streets says that walking 1 mile can burn up to 100 calories and walking just 2 miles a day, 3 times a week, can help to reduce your weight by 1lb every 3 weeks. Being more active can reduce the likelihood of you becoming obese or getting diabetes or heart disease.

The Department for Health suggests that adults should be active every day and that each week you should undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more. A brisk walk to work could save you money on gym membership and on travel costs. It’s a win win situation.

Walking isn’t just good for your health

Fancy arriving at work energised and ready for the day ahead rather than stressed out and fed up? The International Charter for Walking, Walk 21 states: “The more a person walks the better they feel, the more relaxed they become, the more they sense and the less mental clutter they accumulate.” Walking home again can also help you to work off some of the stresses of the day and arrive home feeling more relaxed.

Another of the benefits of walking to work is that you get to live life in the slow lane and actually take in your surroundings. Last year I had to go to London for a course and instead of taking the bus or underground and cutting my journey in half I decided to walk. Granted, I’m not in London every day but I still think that you can always stop to appreciate a city even if you’ve seen it a million times.

Benefits of walking to work - Chapterthirty

Compromise

I do realise it might not be feasible to walk all the way to work, depending on your commute, but you could get off the bus or tube a few stops earlier or perhaps park a little further away. You could also compromise and walk one way. I’m not a morning person so when I was working at the Parliament of Victoria I would get the tram across the city centre in the morning and walk home. Plus it meant I got to browse in Melbourne’s shops on the way back. Always a bonus but one of the main reasons my wages didn’t go very far. Ooops. On the way home you might be less likely to be rushing: on a nice day I certainly enjoy taking a little detour and strolling home rather than walking back the same way I normally go.

Folkestone Step Short Arch and poppies - Chapterthirty

So, it’s good for your health, good for your mind and helps you arrive to work raring to go. Are you tempted to don your trainers and walk to work?

Let’s do it!

activecommuteexerciseLondonpavementstreetsWalk to Work Week 2015walking
Tweet
0
5 blogs to inspire twenty-something women
Benefits of travelling as a solo female

About the Author

Rachel Birchley

Professional marketer. I live in Folkestone with my hubby and our baby girl.

You Might Also Like

  • Why getting enough sleep is important for your career

  • Tips for boosting your self confidence and achieving your career goals

  • 6 ways to own your lunch hour

  • Discreet ways to use social media to find a new job

No Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Subscribe & Follow

    Hey there!

    Hey there!

    I'm a 30-something mother who works part-time in marketing for a local company. I live in Folkestone, Kent with my husband and daughter. When I get a rare moment to myself, I enjoy writing, baking and photography.

    Rachel Birchley

    Looking for something?

    Rachel BirchleyMember of the Professional Copywriters' Network

    Latest Posts

    • SEMrush Content Marathon – Assignment Three

      26 June 2019
    • SEMrush Content Marathon – Assignment Two

      26 June 2019
    • SEMrush Content Marathon – Assignment One

      25 June 2019
    • First time buyers could be nearly £700 per year better off

      25 August 2015
    • Folkestone Harbour Arm

      12 August 2015
    Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest

    Rachel Birchley - mummy, wife, marketer and writer

    © 2019 Rachel Birchley. All rights reserved.
    This site uses cookies More info