Get Walking!

The US surgeon general has issued a call to action! America, we need to get walking! We need our communities to be more "walkable". This means that we need to have better access to sidewalks, we need to have conveniences within walking distance.

We as a society have gotten so very sedentary. Our jobs are sedentary, our pass times are sedentary. I understand that we all work long, hard hours and we want to be able to relax when we're not working. However, all of this inactivity is literally killing us! It's leading to a whole list of health issues, both physical and mental!  

We're not asking you to go to the gym and become a gym rat, we're asking you to try and start walking when you can. 

I am lucky, I currently live a quarter of a mile from a gas station and half a mile from a Dunkin Donuts. When I want something that I don't have in the house, I walk to get it. If I lived closer to a grocery store, I would walk to the grocery store as well. 

We need to demand that our communities become more walkable. People, obviously, won't walk if it isn't safe. The number of housing developments I have seen that have been built, recently, without sidewalks astounds me! These developments are great places for walking! Most have closed loops that are easy to maneuver. This means that if there were sidewalks, people could walk safely and get more fitness in! 

Check out these great websites to help you get your communities walking: Every Body Walk! Collaborative, America Walk Collaboration, Stroller Strides, Walking School Bus, Walk at Home and Walk with a Doc . 

Simply walking has so many health benefits. It helps ease anxiety and depression, it has been shown to help those with neurological diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's. It also helps control both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, it is great for reducing your chance of heart attack, or stroke. 

Another reason walking is great is that it doesn't take much. Put on comfortable shoes and clothes that are appropriate for the current weather and head out the door. It is also something that you can do with friends, that is easy to enjoy. 

It is such a small thing. Walking. You don't need special equipment, it is relatively low impact.

Get out there, start walking. Talk to your community leaders. Stress the importance of walkability!

Hiking

Last week, I talked about how when the weather is blah, it makes the people cranky and blah as well.

Let's move forward and start to think about it not being so blah out. Let's start thinking about how nice it's going to be soon, how we're going to want to spend more time outside soon.

That being said, who wants to be cooped up in the gym on a gorgeous summer day? Not too many people that I have met! We don't want to lose all of those hard earned health benefits either, though...what is a poor soul to do?

Flowers from when I first moved to the Midwest

I know! Get all exercisey while enjoying the outdoors! Yay!!! And the best part of outdoors exerciseyness? It can be so much fun that you don't even think about it. So much fun that the next day you wake up sore in spots you didn't know you could be sore, and you just smile!

Hmmm, now what are some outdoor exercisey things to do? You could go for a run, but unless you really enjoy running, that's not really a way to "enjoy" the wonderful summer weather. I know! Go hiking! You don't have to live in the wooded hills to go "hiking". You can go urban hiking, and hike around your town.

Yes!!! Bring your camera along, not your cell phone, walk and take pictures. Take a friend with you, hike around, explore your environment. Just spend the day wandering around!

Half Dome, Yosemite, CA

That sounds like so much fun! If you are urban hiking, you don't even have to bring your lunch with you, you can try out that new bistro that you've been dying to try. Wandering around the city with a friend, or two, or three, with your camera ever at the ready, conversation flowing, you'll rack up those miles without realizing it. Just make sure that you wear good shoes, and sunscreen, skin cancer is no laughing matter, as a matter of fact you need to reapply ever so often, so bring it with you.

If you are going to be hiking in the wooded hills, there are some very important things to remember. Wear sunscreen, and bring it with you to reapply. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes. Since you are going to be out in the wilderness, you are also going to want to make sure that you are wearing an insect repellent, make sure that it repels ticks and chiggers, not just mosquitoes, since ticks spread Lyme disease.

Old Mining Equipment, Hunter's Valley, CA

You aren't going to be able to just stop and grab an iced tea from the local food distributor if you are out and in the woods, so bring plenty of water, as well as a first aid kit. Actual wooded hills hiking takes a bit more planning. It is also a good idea to make sure that someone knows where you are going to be. If you don't want to call someone just to tell them that you are going on a hike, leave a note in your house somewhere prominent, say on the refrigerator, so that if something does happen, they know where to start looking for you. You should also dress in layers, or at least bring a long sleeve top and some long pants with you for emergencies. It is always amazing, and slightly startling, how much chillier it can be in the densely wooded areas.

If you have never hiked in the area you are going to, make sure that you have researched it as thoroughly as possible. You don't want to be hiking and wander upon a rattlesnake, or a bear, and not be prepared.

Stream, Oakhurst, CA

Visit the American Hiking Society for more hiking tips and suggestions, as well as some first aid pointers.

I hope that this week, I have inspired you to step outside, both of your comfort zone and your home. Take some amazing pictures and share the beauty that is found in both the cities and the woods.

Until next week

Midwest Weather has Got Me Down

Hello all,

I know that it has been a while since I have last updated. Sorry for that! Things around my neck of the woods are a bit crazy.

Since the weather here in Wisconsin has NOT improved, people are still cranky and irritated. The worst thing was that we did have about 3 days of nice weather. Now people are super moody.

How do we make ourselves happy when this happens? Well, I'm glad you asked. We get all exercisey, yes, that's now a real official word, and sweat some. Remember, when we get all exercisey, see told you it was now a real word, we get these awesome things called endorphins running through our system. Endorphins are our friends because they play around with the part of our brains that codeine and morphine play with. That's right, they make you a little high. So if you get exercisey, you get a little high. (That's what causes the elusive "runner's high").

Another way to help make ourselves healthy and happy when the weather gets us down, is to get our vitamin C on! Head on over to the local produce department, buy fruit, lots of it! After get exercisey, eat yourself some fruit. You'll recover the lost carbohydrates, and feel more Spring/Summerish.

We equate fruit with summer, and the smell and taste of the fruit will bring on good time feelings.

Want to take it a step further? Turn on some amazing summer tunes, and get exercisey to them. You'll start thinking about the sunshine and better weather, your endorphins will get you a teensey weensey bit high, then you'll eat your fruit to recover, and voila you're healthier and happier!!!

I hope this has helped all of you that are struggling with the lack of sunlight feel a bit better. Love and hugs to all of you out there in cyber land!!!