So how is it going for you this year,so far? Did you start the year with a resolution to exercise more?Maybe you bought a pedometer, or some such aid, to help you set targets and measure your exercise levels.Just maybe, though,
you will have followed the over 80% or so it is reckoned fall away from achieving their resolutions.
Well,I did make a resolution to achieve a daily average of 10,000 steps a day within the first three months of the year. I bought the pedometer and I have tried to build-up my daily step rate.At the moment I am achieving around 6,000 steps on average. So some days, I do more than 6,000, other days more around 5,500. My current rate is classed as just above a sedentary lifestyle, an improvement, but I must do much better in the coming weeks.
If you have never measured your walking steps, it does require some application to achieve the higher step rates for beneficial exercise. There is no doubt I feel much better for the challenge.
The thing about going for a good walking habit is that if you falter, you can quickly step it up again without too much loss of benefit. I find now that I think about how to step-up my effort during the day.So,for example, instead of driving the car short distances, I will take that 10 minute walk.I will take the stairs in a public building rather than a lift.
Would you feel better for that extra exercise? Well,don’t just take my word for it: research studies in Brazil and the US have concluded that taking 6,000 or more steps daily can decrease the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.They found that typically an adult male walks 5,117 steps in a day, equivalent that is to a walk of about two and a half miles and, apparently adding a further 1,000 steps to this tally may be just enough to lower this health risk by reducing abdominal obesity.
The research also indicates that your daily quota of steps does not have to be concentrated in an exercise programme.The health benefit can be gained if the physical activity is spread throughout the day.
Daily there is much talk about the growing levels of obesity throughout many parts of the world. You can help yourself by keeping to this simple daily exercise plan to walk more each day. Set yourself a reasonable and effective target.