2018 Wellness Challenge 4–Walk for your life!
Ever watched one of those movies or television shows where some catastrophe occurs and someone in the crowd yells, “RUN! Run for your lives?”
The idea, of course, is to escape the danger (whatever it might be).
Well…
As a society, we’re facing a danger.
Actually, we’re facing a multitude of dangers associated with poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Lifestyle choices which involve poor nutrition and physical inactivity strongly contribute to the development of deadly chronic conditions–cardiovascular disease and diabetes. These diseases reduce our quality of life and can lead to early disability or death.
My three earlier Wellness Challenges for 2018 focus on making healthier nutrition choices. This week’s challenge is to walk.
Walk for your lives!
Walking has numerous benefits for us:
- Improves cardiorespiratory fitness (strengthens our heart muscle)
- Helps maintain a healthy weight (and can help us lose weight when a walking program is combined with healthy eating)
- Can help lower cholesterol
- Helps relieve stress
How much do we need to walk to receive healthy benefits?
Try to achieve 150 or more minutes weekly. This works out to an average of 30 minutes, five days per week. The good news is–if you can’t find a 30 minute block of time to walk, break it up into three 10 minute walks throughout the day. Walk briskly (as you are able). If you are just starting out on a walking program, work up to 150 minutes per week gradually, both in distance and speed of walking.
And the great news is…
Walking is beneficial for us no matter our age–children, young adults, middle agers and older adults. No matter our age, a walking program is an excellent component of a healthy lifestyle.
Happy walking, my friends!
You can learn more about how regular physical activity benefits your heart from this previous blog.