Boost your health with National Start! Walking Day

Health care providers worldwide agree: one of the easiest and surefire ways to improve your health is to get out of that chair (or off that sofa) and start moving. If you've been meaning to get off your fanny and walk during your lunch break, today is the perfect day to give it a try. The American Heart Association has declared today, April 7, National Start! Walking Day, an effort that specifically targets the workplace as a place to gain and give inspiration in the journey towards better health.

Think you don't have time to walk your way to better health? According to the American Heart Association, taking just 10 minutes three times a day to walk will help you live longer and healthier. You don't have to devote your entire lunch hour to exercise - you can break it up over three segments. Instead of taking the elevator to accounting, customer service or some other department at your company, take a vertical walk instead and go up the stairs - twice. Map out a place five minutes from work where you can get a healthy lunch. Walking there and back takes care of your second segment. Take your meeting outside; instead of going into someone's office, arrange to "walk and talk" outside or around the perimeter of a large room for your final segment. That's it. You're done. Experts say walking has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity. It's a small thing you can do to get reliable return on your health.

Here's what the American Heart Association recommends you do today to get your company involved in walking:

•    Begin by inviting co-workers to wear their sneakers to work.
•    Encourage employees to get in their 30 minutes of walking that day.
•    Change one of your meetings to a walking meeting, and let your colleagues know it's for your health.
•    Go shopping for something green to wear. It shows you support the Start! movement.
•    Host a walk and/or rally to show your commitment to living longer, healthier lives.

Do your bosses or co-workers need more convincing? Here's how walking improves your health:

•    Reduces the risk of coronary heart disease
•    Improves blood pressure and blood sugar levels
•    Improves blood lipid profile
•    Maintains body weight and lowers the risk of obesity
•    Enhances mental well being
•    Reduces the risk of osteoporosis
•    Reduces the risk of breast and colon cancer
•    Reduces the risk of non insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes

Will you walk today? Did you walk today? Let me know.

Photo Credit: Hamed Saber