Tomorrow is National Start! Walking Day

April 7, 2009 by theo.johnson
Filed under: Blog Entries, Community, General, Health, Society & Culture

You can support the fight against heart disease Wednesday, April 8th by participating in the American Heart Association National Start! Walking Day. This is the day when adults nationwide can make the pledge to Start! walking to become active and heart healthy, especially in the workplace. Black people have a higher risk of stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes than those of other races and most of the risk factors can be corrected if we take the time to better care for ourselves.

There are many benefits to walking and its one of the easier ways to exercise and improve your overall health. Taking just 10 minutes three times a day to walk will help you live longer. In fact, studies show that just one hour of vigorous exercise will increase your life expectancy by two hours. I’ll be the first to admit that I need to do better when it comes to exercise, so you can count on my participation. All it takes is the commitment to take the first step.

Here are some tips on what you can do to support the National Start! Walking Day:

Begin by inviting co-workers to wear their sneakers to work .
Encourage employees to get in their 30 minutes of walking that day.
Change one of your meetings to a walking meeting, and let your colleagues know why.
Start! Shopping for something green to wear. It shows you support the Start! movement.
Host a walk and/or rally to show your commitment to living longer, healthier lives.
Get Everyone in Your Company Involved

For more information visit the National Start! Walking Day website and set up your own personal MyStart! Online Tracker to track your progress.