Page 41 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Fall 2019- Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS
Walking the

by Lisa Goode Wonder
Drug

ant a simple, low-cost and effective exercise coordinate with one another and improve memory
program that can be performed almost function. Findings suggest that exercise does not need
Wanywhere? Walking is an activity that almost to be prolonged or intense to benefit the brain, and that
anyone can participate in at some level. If you have been exercise can change people’s brains and minds right
discouraged because you believe that you must walk at away, without requiring weeks of working out. (3)
a rapid pace or complete 10,000 steps a day to get any
benefit from a walking program, I have some good news In the words of Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the
for you! Several recent studies have provided some Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Walking is
encouraging information. the closest thing we have to a wonder drug.”

A study done by the University of Massachusetts, 1
Amherst, with adults age 21 to 85, has shown that Retrieved from the website www.sciencedaily.com on 6/12/19:
walking cadence (speed) is a reliable measure of exercise “International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical
intensity. Federal guidelines call for 150 minutes of Activity” February 2019.
“moderate” or 75 minutes of “vigorous” exercise each
week. Moderate intensity is defined as 100 steps per 2 Retrieved from the website www.theantlantic.com on 6/12/19:
minute, vigorous as 130 steps per minute. The natural “The Atlantic” May 31, 2019; referencing a study by I-Min Lee
walking pace of 90% of the study participants was above published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”.
the moderate pace threshold. Researchers noted, “If
you ask people to walk their normal speed, they will 3 Retrieved from the website www.nytimes.com on 6/12/19:
probably walk above 100 steps per minute”. (1) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published in
9/2018, published in the New York edition 10/29/18.
What about the guideline of 10,000 steps per day? I-Min
Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard
University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was
curious about this also. She searched for the origin
of the 10,000 step per day guideline and discovered
that it was a marketing strategy! In 1965, a Japanese
company was selling pedometers, and they gave it a
name that, in Japanese, means “the 10,000-step meter”.
The Japanese character for “10,000” looks like a man • Proudly Ranked in the Top 10%
walking. As far as Dr. Lee could determine, the actual •
health merits of that number have never been validated
by research. So, she designed a study that observed •
the step totals and mortality rates of more than 16,000 Average
elderly American women. She found that at 4,400
steps per day, the women had significantly lower •
mortality rates compared to the least active women.
When they did more, mortality rates continued to
drop UNTIL they reached 7,500 steps, at which point • All Private Rooms
the rates leveled out. Ultimately, increasing daily
physical activity by as little as 2,000 steps – less than •
a mile of walking – was associated with positive • Daily Physician Management
health outcomes for elderly women. In 2018, the •
American Heart Association released new guidelines apy
to emphasize the importance of even short bursts
of activity, which had previously been dismissed as • Respiratory therapy
inconsequential. (2)

There is also some research that indicates that just - fax: 806.740.8579
10 minutes of mild exercise can immediately alter www.TRHL.ErnestHealth.Com
how certain parts of the brain communicate and 4302 Princeton Street
Lubbock 79415

Amarillo Senior Link 41