AHA National Walking Day 2014
"The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best
way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose."
--Charles Dickens
"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast
- you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." --Eddie Cantor
"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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| AHA National Walking Day Poster Image |
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| Red String attached to my shoe laces in support of the AHA and National Walking Day |
I owe a huge "Thank You" to my sweet husband for walking with me on April 2, 2014 at
noon around our community's walking track on a beautiful, sunny, balmy Mississippi day to
celebrate National Walking Day 2014! As we walked around the track in our hometown's Bruce Burney Memorial Park, we talked, we laughed, we had FUN!!
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| Walking over 30 minutes on National Walking Day! |
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| My husband posing for me after we finished our walk. |
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| I deserved a little relaxation time after my walk!! |
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| AHA National Walking Day Poster Image and Resources about Walking |
The AHA promotes this day to get you
committed to walking for 30 minutes or more each day to reduce your health
risks because their statistics show that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women are at
risk for heart disease, and research shows that poor lifestyle is a major
contributor. Along with National Walking Day, you can look also visit the AHA
website www.MyHeartMyLife.org to
learn more about living a Healthy Heart Lifestyle. The American Heart
Association’s My Heart, My Life healthy living initiative helps individuals and
families understand how to get active and eat healthy—all part of the American
Heart Association’s 2020 goal.
National Walking Day began as the American Heart
Association’s National Start! Walking Program in 2008 and will now be
celebrated on the first Wednesday of April each year. So if you missed National
Walking Day this year, start walking now so that you will be really prepared
for next year’s National Walking Day.
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| Find any way that you can to get your 30 minutes of walking in each day! |
Because adults are more inactive in today’s busy world of
work, along with family life, not only adults, but also children and teens are
living an overly sedentary lifestyle. It’s not that we are lazy—we are simply
too busy doing and going every day of our life.
National Walking Day is one of many of the American Heart Association’s recommendations to help you increase physical inactivity by encouraging everyone to take 30 minutes of their
day and get up, get out and walk. Walking is so important to begin living a
healthier lifestyle when we acknowledge that physical inactivity doubles the
risk of heart disease.
According to Wendy Bumgardner, the AHA physical activity
recommendations help:
- Cut your risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes
- Extend your life expectancy
- Work toward a healthy weight (or maintain the weight you have)
- Have more energy to do the things you love
- Sleep better
- Enhance your mental well being
- Be a great role model for people in your life
- Be ready to hit the ground running in spring! (or in the case of 2014, when the weather finally warms up
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| Why did you walk on National Walking Day? |
If you did participate in National Walking Day, 2014 (like I did), the American Heart Association encourages each person who participated in National Walking Day 2014 to take a photo
of yourself enjoying walking and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #AHALaceUp.
Also remember to keep walking. If the weather is rainy and
cold like it currently is, you can walk my favorite way —indoors on a
treadmill.
Also, you may want to keep the following AHA information in mind on those days
when you just don’t feel like walking 30 to 60 minutes a day:
- Walkers Live Longer
- Walking Helps Prevent Weight Gain
- You Can Walk Off Weight
- Walking Reduces Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
- Walking Reduces Cancer and Diabetes Risk
- Walking Boosts Your Brain Power
- Walking Improves Mood and Relieves Stress
- It’s easy to start walking
For Other Sources of Information about the Importance of
Walking and a Healthy Lifestyle see:
Happy National Walking Day walking.about.com/b/2014/04/02/its-start-walking-day-april-7.htm
--Happy Walking
--Living Chronically Content
--Philippians 4: 11-12
Angie Russell Irvin
Mrs. Mississippi International 2014
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