Jubilee Health Place

Finding a Place of Health and Fitness through God's Grace

Exercise

Walking 4400 Steps A Day Is The New Goal

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According to Jodi Helmer, new study in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at the average step counts of more than 16,000 people and found those who walked just 4,400 steps per day were 41% less likely to die over the four-year study period compared to those who walked 2,700 steps.

Walking more than 4,400 steps helped lower the risk of all-cause mortality even further, but the benefits leveled off when walkers logged 7,500 steps. In other words, more steps did not equal better outcomes, according to lead researcher I-Min Lee, PhD, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

That is a lot better than the 10,000 steps of the past. Most of us don’t have the time it takes to walk that long. Charlene and I are out each morning and we get our walking in early. The sun is coming up later so we start a little later than we did during the hot summer. My goal is 5000 steps a day. I have my Fitbit goal set to 5000 and get the celebration signal for reaching that amount. Walking 5000 steps is about 2.5 miles for me. When home we walk on a 1/3 mile track and get our steps in. When traveling we try to get the steps in also. We just came back from Gatlinburg where we actually got a little more than our goal each day.

Walking has many significant health benefits, including lower levels of depression and anxiety, lower body mass index and waist circumference, improved glycemic control in those with Type 2 diabetes, and reduced blood pressure and lower LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol. If you haven’t been walking much start slow and work up to the 4400 steps a day to maximize your health.

Walking and Creativity

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Hilton Head Walking 700 x 400

You may have heard it before:  Walking is good for your overall well being.  It’s important for our health—besides burning calories—and the benefits gained when we put one foot in front of the other.

But that isn’t all there is to walking. I recently read an article on Leslie Sansone’s Walk At Home Facebook page that highlighted a Sanford University study on walking and creativity. How does walking help you? Does it contribute to your better health? Does it enhance your mental capacities? Does it boost creativity?

These were some of the questions Stanford researchers had when they looked at two groups of people: those who walked and those who just sat at their desk. We already know that walking is beneficial for all of us and contributes to our better health but could walking boost our creativity levels enhancing mental capacities? According to co-authors Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz, both with Stanford Graduate School of Education, creative thinking improves while a person is walking as well as shortly thereafter.

Maybe you can related if you’ve been stuck on something you’ve been working on for some time, and you even got up and paced back and forth in an effort to come up with some new ideas. Did it help? Probably more times than not, walking as you paced actually enhanced your mental ability to think.

The study found that walking—either outdoors or indoors—boosted creative inspiration. They concluded that the walking itself was the main factor, not so much the environment in which they walked. Another of their experiments found that walking indoors or outdoors produced twice as many creative responses compared to a person staying seated at their desk. Creative juices flowed for those sitting yet the ‘walkers’ had increased creativity.

Many well-known CEO’s have practiced the creativity increase when they’ve held some of their meetings ‘on foot’. Steve Jobs was one to have walking meetings as well as Mark Zuckerberg.

We definitely agree with Marily Oppezzo when she concluded that physical activity is important and sitting too long in unhealthy. They discovered that walking can increase your creativity and thinking ability.

So, do you need a new idea? Do you need some inspiration? Get out into God’s world, enjoy the beauty He’s created, and expect that He’ll give you some new creative ideas as you walk, walk, walk.

Move It

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Lisa Shanken makes this good statement about sitting at your computer much of your day. “Are you following the rules of healthy computer usage? For every hour you sit down in front of your computer or at your desk, you should spend five minutes stretching your legs, preferably walking outside while thinking calm, gentle thoughts.”

We have to be careful in sitting too much especially when we get older. Edward R. Laskowski, M.D of Mayo Clinic says, “Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns. They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome.”

I have had friends who got blood clots in the legs after riding in a car for several hours. We have been fortunate on our trips especially long trip across the country. Plus, we sit a lot at the computer during the day. So this little tip is great because it gets us up and wandering about  instead of sitting for hours at a time.

There are many ways to move while working. Stand a few minutes every now and then. Some work standing up at their computer. Some even have a treadmill they walk on while working on the computer. You can even take a Pokémon Go break and catch some of them critters. The body needs movement. It needs to stretch and activate every so often. This is just another of those things we can do and should do. So move it, move it, move it.

The Benefits Of Exercise

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This year I spent most of the time on the mental aspects of weight loss—excuses. In the past, I have written articles on exercise, so before this year ends I want to reiterate the importance of exercise.

Although in my opinion, getting the weight off is supreme, the journey can be different for each person. We all have different time considerations, follow different plans, and have different goals. Diet is primary for weight loss, but exercise is important to the wellbeing of the body and mind.

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to evaluate your exercise goals and maybe step them up a notch. I know I’ve slacked in the area of weight training. I have the needed equipment so one of the things I’m doing is getting the weight training going at least three times a week. I hope you have some exercise goals, also.

Even the senior can benefit from exercise. Regular exercise helps older people remain independent and by helping prevent falls. It can strengthen the muscles of even the frailest older person. It tends to increase appetite, reduce constipation, and promote quality sleep. All this and it also helps change your attitude and mood. At the minimum—walk, walk, walk.

Super Shred

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Super shred. That tires me out just reading it. Super shred workouts are high intensity workouts for maximum muscle-building and calorie burning usually lasting about 40 minutes. If that’s your cup of tea, go for it. I would have done those years ago, but now I’m content with walking.

I recommend this high intensity workout as a good road to fitness and push the limits a little. This is for you younger fitness fanatics who want to have six-pack abs and a high level of endurance. For me as a senior, the word shred just makes me wish I were younger.

There are plenty of workout routines. It’s best if you can afford a gym and a trainer to help. If you have weights as we do, then just do age appropriate training. In other words, don’t overdo it. That means don’t drop the weight on your toes. Work out at your own pace. If you are starting out, check with your doctor. That’s my disclaimer for you 80-year olds who try to do the super shred.

Exercise is important at any age, so get it done.

Exercise Daily

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Exercise daily. This list of things we are looking at in the next few days are not rules or laws. Exercise daily is not a commandment. Besides, it carries no punishment if you don’t obey. These are suggestions based on experience. I find them to be guidelines for healthy living as well as motivation to lose or maintain weight.

God designed your body to move. The hormones kick in. The immune system circulates. The cardiovascular system strengthens and your body takes in more oxygen, which is good for all our cells. There is no doubt that exercise is good for the body, and it does help us lose weight.

The idea of exercising daily develops a positive mindset for exercise. We try to walk every day. It sometimes doesn’t work out. However, it’s a goal to shoot for, a target to aim at. It develops an automatic response to the new day. We need to get out this morning and walk. We don’t really like walking in our neighborhood, so we drive a couple of miles to a nice trail designed for the walking person. It’s a wide concrete trail with almost no elevation change. It has ample space and easy to get into parking. All benefits of living in our city. So get in your daily exercise.