We're bombarded by fitness messaging that tells us that to be healthy, we must go to extremes ("no pain, no gain). But really, it doesn't have to be that hard.

Simply going for a walk (especially if you do it regularly and outdoors) is an underestimated but low-stress, low-impact, accessible way to reap lots of health benefits. It can be a rejuvenating time, spent in solitude or in the company of friends, in sunshine and fresh air. Here are four benefits of going for walks—no gym membership required.

It Boosts Your Mood

Just the act of walking—the way you've probably been doing without thought ever since you were a toddler—can improve your mood, even in an environment where you may be dreading tasks you have at hand, according to a 2016 study.

Plus, it gives you a reason to take breaks from your chair throughout the day. If you're able to walk outside in a natural setting and not on a treadmill or at your workplace, the benefits are even more direct. Studies show that walking outdoors can help relieve stress: In one study, participants who took a 90-minute walk outdoors reported less "rumination" (repeatedly thinking negative thoughts about yourself) and showed less activity in regions of the brain linked to mental illness.

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It Bolsters Heart Health

Activities that have you gasping for breath aren't the only ones that count as aerobic exercise; moderate walking can help you reap some of the same heart-healthy benefits.

Just 30 minutes of walking a day has been shown to improve blood pressure and reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association. This can be accomplished easily by simple decisions like parking farther away from buildings, taking stairs, and pacing while talking on the phone.

It Can Ease Sugar Cravings

The next time you have a hankering for a sweet snack, go for a brief walk. One study showed that taking a 15-minute walk helped people cut their chocolate consumption in half at their workplace.

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It Improves Brain Health

Going for regular walks has been associated with increased brain plasticity, the ability to create and grow new neural connections in your brain.

It can even help stave off cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer's later in life. One study looked at the activity level of seniors; those who walked 72 blocks or more per week had more gray matter in their brains, reducing the risk of cognitive impairment by half.

In September 2002, Kara Edwards was in the car on her way home from a weekend in the country with friends when her phone started blowing up with messages. “We reached an area with cell service, and I started getting bombarded with texts from my three brothers and other family members,” she recalls. Frightened, she called one of her brothers: “He told me that our father had committed suicide.”

“It felt like my world had spun off its axis,” recalls Kara, now 37. “My father was one of my best friends. I’d been a daddy’s girl from the time I was little, and even though he lived in another state, I talked to him all the time. We had just spoken before I left for the weekend, and he seemed fine. I was so stunned and distraught I couldn’t think straight. I had to ask my friend to pull the car over to the side of the road so I could get out and walk around. It felt like life would never be normal again.”

For a long time, it wasn’t. “I went back to work a couple of weeks later, but it was the least productive time of my life,” she says. “I couldn’t concentrate or get anything done because I was so paralyzed by shock and grief.”

She wasn’t functioning well socially, either. Kara, a single mom, and her three-year-old daughter shared a townhouse with a friend who loved to have people over, and Kara began to feel resentful and judgmental of their ability to laugh and have fun.

“They didn’t understand what I was going through, and I thought they were shallow, so I became more and more introverted, staying in my room and writing songs and crying,” she recalls. “The more alone I was, the more depressed I became. I was in a downward spiral and, without my dad, I didn’t know where to turn for help.”

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Forging a connection

Six months after her father’s death, she was sorting through a box of his belongings and found a Kundalini yoga video. “I didn’t do yoga—and I didn’t know he did,” she says. “But I’d been listening to lots of his music, and I thought this might be another way to connect with him, so I tried it.”

Kara remembers, “I cried off and on the whole practice—not in sadness, but in release. I’d been struggling with the feeling that I wasn’t good enough because I wasn’t enough to make my dad want to live. But something about the movement was incredibly comforting.”

She started doing the tape every other day, and over time, the practice helped her absorb the reality of what had happened—and find ways to cope.

“Yoga helped me discern between real limitations and false limitations. For instance, Kundalini is a cardio challenge, but I was able to push myself to do more of it than I thought I could—which made me realize that I could push through my pain off the mat and get to a better place emotionally as well,” she says…