Walking is (Wo)Man's Best Medicine - by Kerri Zane

“Walking is man’s best medicine…” – Hippocrates

Next Saturday, July 7th,  I’ll be starting a walking a program in Long Beach starting at our beautiful Marine Stadium. I’ve been walking as a part of my fitness routine for years, and not only do I believe that everyone should be incorporating walks into their weekly fitness schedule, but science agrees. Just 10 minutes of walking can have a positive effect on your body and mind and lift your spirits after a long day, and up to 45 minutes and beyond on a regular basis has the potential to replace your anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, along with a myriad of other psychological and physical benefits.

A study done by Robert Thayer, a local psychology professor at California State University of Long Beach required 12 males and 25 females to wear a pedometer from the time they woke up until the time they went to sleep over a period of 20 days. The results? The students who took more steps per day reported feeling healthier, more energized, happier, and felt more self-esteem. As an added bonus, they also reported that the walking helped them choose more nutritious foods throughout the day.

Psychological Benefits

When you’re living in your head most of the day (work, planning for your future and your child’s future, dealing with finances, etc.), there’s a gap that forms between your mind and body, which ideally work as one entity in a healthy individual. However, it seems that this precious unity between the mind and body is becoming more and more rare as we find more to distract ourselves with (hello, iPhone 3, 4, 5…). Walking, however, is a grounding exercise. Using your legs to physically move you rather than your brain to move you through imaginary future circumstances or through those awful daily ruminations can actually shift your energy downward, significantly calming your mind and your entire body. Walking can be a meditative exercise, bringing you back into awareness of the sensations in your body. Also, walking can actually serve as a better form of meditation than sitting still  for some, gradually diminishing the nervous energy with the low-impact movement.

Feeling anxious or depressed can easily discourage anyone from getting up and getting physical. Surely, the last thing anyone with anxiety or depression wants to do is go to a crowded gym (which, even without clinical depression or anxiety, can make anyone feel a little down or anxious). However, walking can be done anywhere, hence my mantra, “no gym, no equipment, no excuses!” You can go alone, with a friend, or with a group. You can walk in an urban area or take a nature walk. It’s up to you! Walking releases endorphins, which make you feel good naturally. Just 30 to 45 minutes of walking five days a week has been proven to have the same effect as anti-depressants– and the effects last longer and are free for the taking! It takes about a month of regular walking for it to kick in, but that’s about how long it takes for drugs like Zoloft and Prozac to establish their chemicals in your system as well. It’s important that when you decide to walk as part of your treatment for anxiety or depression that you set realistic goals at first. If you aren’t normally physically active, don’t set out to walk for 45 minutes on your first day. As with anything, take it slow at first and feel it out. A good, reasonable goal could be a 15 minute walk for a few days, and then maybe bump it up to 20 minutes for another few days until you start walking for thirty. Work your way up to the longer walks and you’ll likely bypass the risk of feeling bored or overwhelmed.

Physical Benefits

The most obvious benefit is weight loss. Walking regularly burns calories and stored fat and builds muscle, which of course, speeds up your metabolism in general.Walking can lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol. The increase in circulation that walking induces encourages enzymes to break down bad fats and move things along. Only 30 minutes per day can help you reap the benefits of getting your cholesterol under control! Another physical bonus is that keeping your weight under control lessens the stress put on your joints, ultimately helping with joint pain and arthritis. This is a benefit that not all exercise can provide, seeing as most gym activities are high impact and can hurt joints rather than help them. Walking also gradually strengthens the muscles around joints, providing more support.

The greatest physical benefit, I think, is the significant prevention of heart disease that comes from walking on a regular basis. Walking carries more nutrients and oxygen to your organs, strengthens your heart muscles, and lowers your blood pressure. This cardio combo results in a 40% less chance that you will suffer from heart disease by walking for just 30 minutes, five days a week (even 10 minutes of walking can lower your blood pressure for up to 11 hours). If you up your walks to an hour for seven days a week, you lower your risk for breast cancer by 20%, and diabetes by– oh my goodness– 50%! That’s amazing! Not only does it protect you from the big, bad, scary diseases, but it also helps your immunity now by making it easier to fight off colds and viruses. A study actually found that walkers had more immune cells to fight off bacteria. Not enough benefits for you yet? Walking thirty minutes a day can lengthen your life by 1.3 years. What can’t it do?!

Start Today!

All you need are shoes. You have shoes, don’t you? (It’s much more helpful to have shoes than excuses, by the way). Anyone can look at that mighty list of benefits that the simple act of a daily walk provides and pick out something they would like to have for themselves. Do you want to control your anxiety? Shoot for being able to walk for 30-45 minutes per day. Want to lower your blood pressure? You only need 10 minutes! Most people equate exercise with something difficult and intimidating, when really, walking is one of the best forms of exercise and is anything but! Even athletes who train for high-impact sports can benefit from including walks into their training schedule on off-days. If you have working legs, then work them! Walking is the ultimate answer for better health and a better life.

If you’re in the Long Beach area, join me for my group walks starting July 7th-October 6th, 2012 around Marine Stadium. For more details click here.

You've Got to Have Friends (and Family)

Remember the Bette Midler song, “You’ve Got To Have Friends?” I am certain she had no idea that the sentiment would ring true for exercising and weight reduction. But it does! In the Fitness Journal, published February 2012, it was reported that multiple studies confirm your friends and family, who are committed to a healthy lifestyle, will help your own sticktuitiveness. Dieters can lose more weight and exercisers are more motivated when paired with willing partners.

SOCIAL MODELING

The phenomenon is called social modeling.  In other words, it’s our proclivity to copy those around us that keeps us on track.  Friends and family shape our thoughts, emotions, habits and our physical bodies. If you are a mom who is active and fit, it is likely that your children (and spouse), will model your behavior. Watching the philosophy in action has been remarkable. Just this past weekend my eldest daughter decided it was time for a new bike. She is determined to begin riding to her classes at CSULB, as well as to her job in Sunset Beach. The behavior was not prodded or discussed it was just a natural progression of the healthy lifestyle modeled in our household. I couldn’t be more proud. My youngest daughter has been a 24-hour fitness member, for the past two years.

EDELMAN HEALTH BAROMETER

The global Edelman Health Barometer survey, (2011) documented the following in their social nature of health influence study:

1.     Forty-three percent of those surveyed said friends/family have the most impact on personal health lifestyle.

2.     Thirty-six percent said that close social ties have the most impact on personal nutrition.

3.     About two-thirds said they had tried to change a negative health behavior, but half failed to sustain the change, citing a lack of ongoing social support as one contributor. 

On the other end of the spectrum a Framingham Heart Study conducted over 32 years indicated that a person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57% if a friend became obese. Depending on the type of friendship, mutual friends risk of obesity increased by a 171%.  Gender was also a factor, where the probability of obesity increased by 71% if all friends were the same sex.  With an all male group the results were 100% while for gal pals the chances were 38%.

FRIEND FOOD GLUE

The desire to mimic those around you tends to enhance bonding and acts as a social super glue. When we copy each other’s eating habits we form positive subconscious bonds. It is about what others do rather than what they think.  The number of diners influence individual eating habits too. If two people dine together they will each eat about 35% more than if they dine alone. If more than seven people break bread they will consume 96% more than eating alone. There is also a tableside “pacesetter” who unknowingly sets the standard for how much is eating and how fast.

GYM BUDDIES

Group cohesion, social interaction and positive reinforcement are strong motivators to starting and maintaining an exercise regimen. Friends and family influence each other’s exercise habits, but only if the perceived support is strong.  Women who perceived themselves as receiving medium to high amounts of exercise social support spent more time working out. For men, it is the perceived social advocacy of sports activities that keeps them involved. Ultimately for all groups it is the positive encouragement that allows people to remain motivated for physical activities and maintain healthy eating habits.

JUST DO IT WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Finding likeminded pals and/or encouraging your children and spouse to participate in your exercise and good for you eating plan, is not only fun, but also an important aspect of your overall health regimen. 

As a healthy living expert in Long Beach, California I am proposing a challenge to all the Women on Bike SoCal readers, because we are all about walking too! Beginning Saturday July 7, 2012, I will hold a free weekly walking workout program every Saturday leading up to the ProWalk ProBike Conference (September 10^th through 13^th) 9am starting out at Marine Stadium Park. Those interested can sign up on the contact page of my website www.kerrizane.com.