Walking is a go-to form of exercise that offers several health benefits. According to the National Institutes of Health, walking can reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, strengthen your bones and muscles, support weight management and boost your mood. Plus, walking is accessible to most people, requires no fancy equipment and can be done anytime, anywhere. But you may be surprised to learn various forms of walking can benefit your health. One such form is interval walking—a form of high-intensity interval training where you alternate between moderately paced periods of walking and more intense intervals.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits to your body when you embrace this dynamic approach to walking.

What Happens to Your Body When You Do Interval Walking

You May Boost Your Cardiovascular Fitness

The varied paces in interval walking enhance your body’s ability to deliver oxygen to muscles. “Adding higher-intensity intervals pushes your cardiovascular system to work harder, which means it will adapt to the new challenge by becoming more efficient,” says Rachel MacPherson, CPT, an ACE-certified personal trainer with Garage Gym Reviews. “This is how you get more fit and can push harder next time. It’s also how you improve your cardiovascular health, which means lower risks of heart disease, stroke and dementia,” she says.

You May Burn More Calories

Alternating between a casual stride and periods of greater intensity ramps up your metabolism to maximize calorie expenditure—and it increases the distance you cover. “By adding higher-intensity intervals, you will burn more calories than when you walk at a slower, steady pace for the same length of time,” MacPherson explains. “Increasing calorie burn will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight balance,” she says.

You May Improve Your Endurance and Stamina

Once you push yourself with a more intense interval, you can slow down to a more comfortable pace. And that “break” is something that makes interval training feel doable and like something you can stick with. 

“Compared to walking at a steady, consistent pace, adding intervals with rest can help you work at your own pace while still challenging you so that you can increase your fitness level,” says MacPherson. “Forcing your body to adapt to higher intensities will help you build stamina, endurance and lung capacity. Building endurance and stamina will mean you can walk longer at higher intensities or even help you form a base to begin running, enabling you to train longer, harder and more efficiently,” she says.

You May Have Better Blood Sugar Control

Your muscles take up glucose for energy during physical activity, which brings down your blood sugar. And walking is one of the best ways to do that, as it’s been shown to improve glucose control in people who have diabetes, according to a 2020 meta-analysis in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. Those who were younger and more physically fit were encouraged to try interval walking for even better blood-sugar-management benefits.

Interval walking can help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, too. “Studies suggest that interval walking can help improve insulin sensitivity and better regulate blood sugar levels to stave off diabetes and help you have more even energy levels throughout the day. Walking right after meals makes this effect even more powerful,” MacPherson says.

You May Improve Your Sleep Quality

Regular physical activity has been linked to improved sleep. According to a 2023 systematic review published in Cureus, research suggests that increasing your daily steps may reduce stress and daytime drowsiness while enhancing sleep, while interval exercise was also found to improve zzz’s.

You May Reduce Your Blood Pressure

Interval walking can lower blood pressure by helping your cardiovascular system operate more efficiently. A 2023 pilot study in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease found that walking an extra 3,000 steps a day, five times per week, significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure in sedentary older adults with high blood pressure. Alternating periods of moderate-paced walking and more intense intervals elevates your heart rate, promoting increased blood flow and circulation. Over time, this can contribute to lower blood pressure.

The Bottom Line

Interval walking provides several health benefits, including improving cardiovascular fitness, endurance, sleep quality and metabolism. It can also improve blood sugar control and lower high blood pressure. Plus, interval walking is a physical activity that can be done almost everywhere and requires no equipment to get started. If you want to improve your fitness and overall health, try interval walking.