Walking Your Way to Health

As a physician, I believe I’ve heard about every excuse why people don’t exercise: they don’t have time, they can’t afford a club membership, they have to watch their children, they’re embarrassed about their weight, and so on. But, when it comes right down to it, if you want to live a long and healthy life, you have to exercise. It’s estimated that forty percent of adult Americans are completely sedentary and only 20 percent of us are really fit. So it’s time we stopped making excuses and starting walking.

Walking is the perfect exercise. It costs nothing. You can do it almost anywhere. It doesn’t require special training and it improves both muscle tone and cardiovascular health. All you need is a good pair of shoes and the gumption to get out the front door.

As with any exercise, you’re more likely to be consistent with your walking if you have a buddy. It might be your spouse or child; it might be a neighbor, or just an acquaintance with a similar desire to improve their health. Walking together also seems to foster good conversation. You’ll have many warm, wonderful conversations on these outings that you wouldn’t have sitting in front of the television.

If you don’t have a walking partner, don’t let that be your excuse. Use your walks to meditate, commune with nature or listen music. A patient of mine with severe heart disease has walked an hour a day for four years (and probably wouldn’t be alive today otherwise). He claims it’s as important for his state of mind as his physical health. As he puts it, “You can work out a lot of problems in an hour-long walk.”

Why walk when you can run? I don’t encourage running for several reasons. When you run your foot impacts the ground with four times the force of gravity and this force is transmitted into the knees, hips and spine. Consequently, about 15 percent of runners sustain an injury every year.  With proper stretching and comfortable shoes it’s unlikely you will hurt yourself walking, and you’ll be more likely to stick to your routine.

I recommend walking for 30 minutes a day at 3-4 miles per hour.  This will burn about 180 calories. While this doesn’t sound like much it adds up to over 65,000 calories in a year which equates to 18 pounds of fat. Not a bad start for most of us!

Contrary to what your mother told you, you don’t catch cold from going outside without your coat on, but you can get frostbite or hypothermia if you don’t dress appropriately. In severe conditions, you may want to head to the mall, use a treadmill or attend an exercise class. But if you want fresh air, consider snowshoes or cross-country skis if the snow is deep.    

We often take for granted this wonderful act of walking, but watch a child take her first steps or spend a few hours in a wheelchair and you’ll appreciate what a miracle it is. Perform a miracle today—-go for a walk.