Today is National Walking Day, a gentle but important call to action to get moving. The American Heart Association wants us to commit to at least 30 minutes of walking each day. Dr. Garrett Sanford, cardiologist with Washington Regional Cardiovascular Clinic, part of the Walker Heart Institute, says that simple half hour pays heaps of dividends.
"It helps your conditioning, helps your heart work more efficiently. It also helps with other risk factors like blood pressure and cholesterol, helps keep your weight down, also helps support your mental health."
And walking isn't just a lesser option on the exercise pyramid.
"Actually the benefits from walking equals that of jogging or more vigorous exercise as long as you spend the time doing it. And it doesn't have to be all necessarily in one setting. It can be — if you have to get up and answer a phone call, take a little stroll while you're on that phone call. Get up periodically from your desk or whatever you're doing and make a couple of laps. Can also be parking farther from the door whenever you go shopping so that you have to take a little bit longer walk into the store and a little bit longer walk out. It's more about your total duration of exercise over the total day as opposed to all in one setting.”
So tell your boss and use this radio segment as your source that you need to be away from the desk just a little bit more each day. Or if that doesn't work, incorporate a walk routine into after work hours.
“Try to do what you can not to sit as much during the day, take a little bit of a scenic route back to your car. And then when you get home, maybe not watch that two, two and a half hour movie you were thinking about. Maybe go for a stroll, take the dog out for a walk, something outdoors."
Several recent studies show pet owners, especially dog owners, tend to live longer and healthier lives than people without pets, and studies also show people who walk their dogs may get significantly more exercise than those who don't.
There's also a chance we don't realize how much we're not moving.
"I was just reading a statistic that said that one in four adults sit an average of eight hours a day or more, which is kind of making me think about how much I sit in a day. Because yeah, eight hours in a seated position, not including sleep, is not good, especially when you think about our grandparents, who were active and on the farm and stayed slim and stayed active and maintained a larger muscle mass than we tend to do nowadays, because they were much more active, where we tend to be much more sedentary."
And Dr. Sanford says, as long as we're walking more, keep in mind that some light strength training is important. Pay attention to your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you smoke, strongly consider cessation.
"I would just encourage you to follow up with your primary care physician. Make sure that your primary care physician is well aware of your family history. Although we're talking about modifiable risk factors like walking, not smoking, controlling your blood pressure and your cholesterol, we can't escape genetics. So keeping a good rapport and keeping your primary care physician informed of your family history lets them know when they may need to order certain tests or certain labs sooner than later."
And as long as we're all walking, why not take a big lap at the grocery store?
"We try to encourage low-fat foods, less red meat — I can't say completely cut out all red meat, but less red meat, less processed food. When we go to the grocery store, try to stay away from the aisles in the middle. If you can get fresher, unprocessed foods around the periphery of the grocery store — that tends to be refrigerated and not put in a box or canned — those tend to be a little bit healthier."
Dr. Garrett Sanford is a cardiologist with Washington Regional Cardiovascular Clinic, part of the Walker Heart Institute. Today is National Walking Day.
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