Taking steps to insure good health can be mind-boggling with all the recommendations spewed forth by many experts. However, the theory of 100 brisk steps is easy to remember and although those footsteps may put extra miles on your shoes, they could also add years to your life.
A new study shows us how to meet the nation’s guidelines for getting a healthy amount of exercise. Simply taking 100 steps per minute, or taking 1,000 steps in ten minutes, can have us walking our way toward the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines of 2.5 hours of moderate physical activity per week.
According to the lead author of the study, Simon J. Marshall, assistant professor of exercise and nutritional sciences at San Diego University, “Now we know what moderate is.” Walkers have heard a number of different recommendations including suggestions for taking up to 10,000 steps per day. However, with moderate physical activity now clearly defined, walkers can step lightly and walk themselves fit at a less strenuous pace.
When you are out taking your steps, Marshall suggests using a pedometer to make sure you’re exercising at an effective intensity. You’ll want to know if your heart rate is being raised enough to improve physical fitness. However, during the study the researchers noted that many pedometers were inaccurate and found that Japanese-made models seem to be the most reliable.
Marshall pointed out that in the fall of 2008, the national guidelines were changed from 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five days a week to simply 150 minutes per week. He explained, “They dropped the per-day recommendation because there wasn't a compelling argument that people who exercised four days a week were any worse off than those who exercised five days a week.”
During the study, participants included 58 women and 39 men having an average age of 32. They took to the treadmills as a machine measured the energy expended by each one. The purpose was to determine a level of activity that was in the moderate range. The researchers concluded that moderate exercise ranges from 92 to 102 steps per minute for men and 91 to 115 steps per minute for women. The report can be found in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
As I write this, tomorrow is Tuesday, which is a cardio day. I'll spend five minutes warming up on the VersaClimber, a towering machine that requires you to move your arms and legs simultaneously. Then I'll do 30 minutes on a stair mill. On Wednesday a personal trainer will work me like a farm animal for an hour, sometimes to the point that I am dizzy — an abuse for which I pay as much as I spend on groceries in a week. Thursday is "body wedge" class, which involves another exercise contraption, this one a large foam wedge from which I will push myself up in various hateful ways for an hour. Friday will bring a 5.5-mile run, the extra half-mile my grueling expiation of any gastronomical indulgences during the week.
I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight. One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut most of those desserts, my weight has returned to the same 163 lb. it has been most of my adult life. I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn't all the exercise wiping it out?
It's a question many of us could ask. More than 45 million Americans now belong to a health club, up from 23 million in 1993. We spend some $19 billion a year on gym memberships. Of course, some people join and never go. Still, as one major study — the Minnesota Heart Survey — found, more of us at least say we exercise regularly. The survey ran from 1980, when only 47% of respondents said they engaged in regular exercise, to 2000, when the figure had grown to 57%.
And yet obesity figures have risen dramatically in the same period: a third of Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the Federal Government's definition. Yes, it's entirely possible that those of us who regularly go to the gym would weigh even more if we exercised less. But like many other people, I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don't. Could exercise actually be keeping me from losing weight?
The conventional wisdom that exercise is essential for shedding pounds is actually fairly new. As recently as the 1960s, doctors routinely advised against rigorous exercise, particularly for older adults who could injure themselves. Today doctors encourage even their oldest patients to exercise, which is sound advice for many reasons: People who regularly exercise are at significantly lower risk for all manner of diseases — those of the heart in particular. They less often develop cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses. But the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated.
The old Mr. Ed sitcom tune goes, “A horse is a horse, of course, of course…” but is a horse also a healing companion? A few weeks ago I wrote about
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and while doing research I found that there was a lot more to write about when it came to horses. Honestly, I have never ridden a horse, but I have had the pleasure of washing them, cleaning up after them, and sitting on one, once upon a time at a childhood camp. Although I do not have any actual experience with horses, I believe that they can make a difference in your life whether or not you seek equine therapy because you or a loved one is living with an ailment or disability.
Using horses to provide healing therapy to humans is often called equine-assisted therapy, therapeutic horse riding, or adaptive riding. Horses are a large animal and need to be cared for. By giving people, especially children, the chance to care for these loving animals brings them closer to a breakthrough either in emotional or physical stability. Equine therapy promotes both types of stability by teaching patients about themselves by letting them become attached to a beautiful animal that does not pass judgment.
Because horses do not have expectations for relationships by bonding with one of these four-legged beauties, a person in this type of therapy can actually help to define a healthy relationship by letting the person explore boundaries, patterns, and recovery. Horses respond to the emotions put forth by the patient and, in turn, the patient responds as well.
Either performed in a group setting or one on one, equine therapy combines the therapy of the patient with a professionally trained therapist working with a specially trained horse, first on the ground getting to know it and its surroundings until the horse and patient are connected enough to become one and ride together.
From social disabilities to slow cognitive skills, training with horses has proved to be a wonderful way for people with these types of disabilities to interact positively. Although equine-assisted activities are targeted for people with disabilities and children with slower than average social skills, they are also great for healing people with depression or relieving anxieties or stress.
By being taught to ride a horse, the patient is also taught a range of skills for example: responsibility, leadership, education, companionship, compassion, and communication to name a few. Riding a horse has long been a leisurely activity and is also a highlight for many a beach stay as a lot of vacationers pay for the relaxation of touring the beach and the ocean on a horse.