- More energy to enjoy life
- Weight management, with toned muscles and less body fat
- Stress reduction
- Deeper more restful sleep
- Healthier bones and joints
- Reduced risks for heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, stroke, high blood
pressure, and osteoporosis.
Why Walk?
There are many benefits to be gained from walking. These can include more energy, deeper and more satisfying sleep, stronger leg muscles, less knee pounding than running, lower body fat, higher metabolic rate, and reduced stress. Many students who walk or exercise study more effectively and have better recall. Daily physical exercise may also reduce your lifelong risks for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and high blood pressure, and may even slow the aging process. While 30 to 60 minutes of walking per day is ideal, you can still benefit from just a little bit of walking.
Nowadays, our lifestyles have changed from the past through dependence on vehicles, labor-saving devices, sedentary recreation, and a fast-paced lifestyle that leaves little room for physical activity. One result of this has been a dramatic increase in the rate of obesity in America. The Surgeon General has recently established the "obesity epidemic" as the single greatest threat to the public's health with an estimated 65% of adults overweight or obese (National Center for Health Statistics, 2004).
What about School and Work?
Due to family commitments or other issues, many people have a difficult time exercising consistently outside of the work or school environment. Is there anything that can be done during the day?
Exercise hasn't always been a big part of our "campus culture", but in many ways, we can't afford not to encourage physical activity here on the UA campus! Concerns about obesity in the news, healthcare costs and insurance premiums are only one way to measure the importance of promoting good health. Since the benefits of physical activity include stress reduction, reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, decreased body fat, weight management, healthier bones and joints, better sleep, reduced risks for heart attack, colon cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke, and in general, better over-all health (CDC 2004), taking every opportunity to increase daily physical activity will benefit all of us.
Here on the UA campus we face a challenge - how can we schedule in physical activity while still maintaining a good GPA for students, and a productive work day for faculty, staff and appointed personnel? Here's the Key: Make use of every opportunity!
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Lunch and Breaks - Significant health benefits can come from just 30 minutes of brisk walking on most days. Lunch and breaks are perfect times to get out for some fresh air and a walk around campus. For students, a walk, jog, or run can be a great break from studying.
Other Opportunities - Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible; park your car further away and walk an extra ten minutes or so to your office or class; use the bathroom on a different floor of your building; keep an elastic band in your desk or backpack and do some resistance exercises; take a few minutes to stretch your arms, neck and shoulders when working at the computer; when walking, pick up the pace and fast-walk!
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