Is there a magic pill for health?

Thoughts & Reflections

Regular walking is the magic pill

By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee

One of the biggest issues – in fact if not the most critical – in the provision of healthcare in all countries is its financing. This is usually reckoned for comparison purposes in terms of healthcare expenditure as a percentage of the country’s GDP.

This ranges from the lowest of about 2% or less in less developed countries (mainly in Africa) to above 10% in the most developed countries, with the USA having the highest at 17.2 % in 2022. Yet, as was revealed in the first ever global evaluation of health systems performance by the WHO (World Health Report 2000), the US ranked low among the lowest among the developed countries, and according to an online source, this was still the case as of 2022. Unsurprisingly, at No. 1 was Singapore.

The Importance of Walking Daily. Pic – SpineINA

Like for other services, the costs of healthcare keep going up. Most of this goes into expensive investigations and treatments of established disease. This can be easily confirmed by anyone who has had to undergo such an experience.

Logically, therefore, one would think that any reasonable person would prefer not to fall ill and, instead, to keep in good health so as not to have to undergo what can more often than not be catastrophic expenditure. Although, admittedly, disease can strike one nevertheless, a harsh reality.

Unfortunately, the general trend is one of ‘eat, drink and be merry’ as a release from the stresses of modern life (‘metro-boulot-dodo’), and when disease befalls one expects to be prescribed a magic pill that will effect instantaneous and miraculous cure. Alas, there is no magic pill for cure.

However, there is one that helps to promote good health and a longer life. It is called walking.

In the words of anthropologist Jeremy DeSilva, who has dedicated his career to studying human evolution through the lens of bipedalism, ‘we are constantly searching for a magic pill that will give us health and longevity. We have it: taking a daily walk.’

Bipedalism is the ability to walk upright on two legs, which only humans can do, and in the evolutionary scale this happened about 3 million years ago. DeSilva has written a book on the subject, First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human, in which he ‘combines history, science, and culture to explore how bipedalism shaped humanity and helped us become the dominant species on Earth.’ He gave an interview to El País via video call from his office at Dartmouth College’ and, interestingly, ‘remained standing throughout the entire interview.’

He goes on to discuss the advantages of bipedalism to the human species from an evolutionary point of view, but I will skip this aspect to focus on the health benefits of walking, many of which have been explored and repeatedly confirmed by detailed scientific studies. They are further elaborated upon in another article by Karelia Vazquez in El País (April 18, 2023) ‘Why going for a walk can cure (almost) anything.’

As well as emphasizing some well-known facts, interesting new findings are presented which explain the ‘why’ of the positive effects on both the physical and mental health of the individual.

Thus, says Bruno Ribeiro, professor in the Human Anatomy and Psychobiology department of the University of Murcia, Spain, ‘If you walk in places, you already know, the first positive effects are cardiovascular activation: if you move your legs, you move your heart.’

Further: ‘As you walk, you turn your head: your field of vision changes and you encounter visual stimuli to the right and to the left. In this way, both cerebral hemispheres are activated. The walk makes them communicate with each other. That is a magnificent exercise, because in the brain, one hemisphere tends to dominate the other.’

But there are even more benefits when we walk through unknown landscapes – in elevation of our mood. Because ‘our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter (chemical substance) that marks novelty in the brain and allows us to identify danger or pay attention. A good daily dose of dopamine will increase another neurotransmitter, serotonin, which is responsible for our mood. The walk helps to keep both neurotransmitters at high levels.’

Furthermore, when we walk, we do tend to think more about the present and not worry too much about the past or the future, so it’s a kind of meditation as well. Most people believe that meditation means quietly sitting in one place, closing your eyes and silencing your mind. No doubt that also is meditation, but I prefer the view of Swami Suddhananda (who has visited Mauritius a few times and given spiritual discourses) that ‘every moment should be a meditation’ – concentrate fully on what you are doing at all times or, as it is more commonly expressed now, ‘mindfulness.’

There are many recommendations about various aspects of walking: how many steps you take, slowly or briskly, how often and how long one should walk, whether to walk before or after a meal (especially breakfast for early morning walkers like me), where you should walk and so on. Many studies have been and continue to be conducted, with the result that the recommendations keep varying and can confuse the professionally uninitiated about health and medical matters.

I myself have tended to be guided by what I consider the simplest and most direct advice of a centenarian, a biologist to boot, Dr Ernst Mayr, who was mini-interviewed by the American journal Scientific American when he turned 100 a couple of decades ago. Predictably, he was asked what was the secret of his longevity. I cherished and remembered his answer which concluded the interview: ‘However busy you are, walk one hour every day.’ At that time, he was completing his 25th book, and he went on to live till 103.

However, over the years I have also learnt from my own personal experience as a regular walker and my experience as a doctor with many patients in various states of health. And my simple advice is: walk regularly (4-5 times per week on average), preferably in the open (i.e. in nature), for 45-60 minutes, combine slow pace with some brisk walking – enough that you don’t run short of breath when you are talking (to someone or singing to yourself: that also is preventive therapy!), and fit in some free hand exercises at intervals. Voilà!Read More… Become a Subscriber

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 6 December 2024