Walk it out

In an effort to get more students and community members spending exercise time outside, the American Heart Association is encouraging everyone on April 1, National Walking Day, “to lace up their sneakers and take 30 minutes out of their day to get up and walk,” according to their website.

The Be Well program for faculty at Utah State University is encouraging all to participate in National Walking Day.

“Wednesday, where it’s National Walking Day, we’re promoting walking,” said Nicole Jackson, an employee wellness assistant at Be Well. “We’re calling it Take a Walk Wednesday.”

This week is Work-Site Wellness week put on by Be Well, and each day will have it’s own theme, Jackson said.

Be Well helps USU employees employees stay or become more active by offering fitness classes, nutrition counseling, seminars on stress management and depression awareness and anything to help “give different information about what they can do to be healthier,” Jackson said.

Jackson said that one of the highest insurance claims made by faculty on campus to Be Well is cardiovascular disease, including cancer, heart attacks and strokes as results of poor cardiovascular health.

Walking can help prevent all ailments connected to cardiovascular disease, Jackson said.

“There’s been a lot of research showing that sitting is like the new smoking, kind of how dangerous and how bad it is for your health to be sitting constantly,” she said.

Even if someone works out in the morning, and then sits all day for work or school, that exercise could mean nothing, because of the person’s inactivity for most of the day, Jackson said.

Jackson’s advice on being healthier is to “get out and walk … enjoy the sunshine and get some steps in. Wear your walking shoes to work.”

For Emmy Beck, a freshman majoring in accounting, walking everywhere is something she already does.

“I don’t have a car, but also it’s just that I like being outside, especially now that it’s warmer, Beck said. “I could take the bus, but if I walk somewhere it’s that much better.”

Being physically fit, as a student, is attainable—with the resources, gyms and classes offered on campus, Beck said.

“I think it’s a problem just because I live literally 10 minutes from campus, but tons of people take the bus, because we’re right by the bus stop,” Beck said.

If more students had better diets and chose to go to the gym, a lot more would live healthier lives, she said.

According to AHA, heart disease and strokes are, respectively, the nation’s number one and number five killers, and that sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950.

“Walking has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity and is a simple, affordable step people can take to positively improve their heart health,” according to the media release from the AHA about Walking Day.

The American Heart Association will also provide a free toolkit for personal health, or to be used in communities, schools and organizations, through registration on their website.

There will also be an official event on National Walking Day in Salt Lake City, where people can come together for an hour to walk the perimeter of City Creek Center, and enjoy a presentation, music and food afterwards.

For more information about National Walking Day or the American Heart Association, visit: www.heart.org

—mandy.m.morgan@aggiemail.usu.edu