One Step at a Time
Walking is one of the easiest, quickest and least expensive ways to step up your fitness level. Adding steps to your daily routine — whether in small increments or all at once — can improve your health. According to the Cleveland Clinic, walking can improve heart and lung capacity, lower stress, raise your mood, help stabilize your blood sugar, reduce cancer risk, and improve sleep. The Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise journal reports that walking may reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases, while increasing the chances of better long-term health. Best of all, walking is low impact, and can be done wherever you are, at your own pace.
The challenge, especially for those who sit most of the day, like professional drivers, traveling businesspeople and even office workers, is how to incorporate walking into the day. The good news is that even minor changes add up to more steps.
First Steps
- Step Up – Tenet Health recommends taking the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can.
- Break it Up – You do not have to do your steps all at once. The National Institute of Health suggests breaking it up throughout your day by trying 10 minutes after breakfast, 10 minutes after lunch, and 10 minutes after dinner. At the end of the day, you have added 30 minutes of walking into your daily routine with little impact on your schedule.
- Slow and Steady – It is not a race. Verywell Fit recommends, when starting a walking program, being realistic about what you can do without being hard on yourself, and keeping your focus on starting slow and staying consistent. Then, gradually increase your speed and distance.
- Walk and Talk – Tenet Health recommends getting steps in while on the phone with friends and family.
- Live on the Edge – of the parking lot! Walking-based website walking4fun.com suggests parking farther away from the restaurant, office or wherever you are headed. You also can walk laps around your vehicle or a well-lit parking lot.
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