We hope you’ve successfully completed our week 1 challenge of Drinking More Water! If this is the first you’re hearing of our 14-week Wellness Challenge, feel free to jump right into week 2. Week 2’s challenge is to walk at least 7,500 steps (a mile is 2,000 to 2,500 steps) each day for this next week. You’ll successfully complete the challenge if you hit this goal in 4 or more days this week. You may find it useful to use a pedometer or fitness tracker app to count your steps.
Benefits of Walking
- Prevention/Management of various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, joint pain, cancer, type 2 diabetes, among others.
- Strengthen bones, muscles, and immune system as well as improve cardiovascular/muscular endurance.
- Reduction of stress and tension with subsequent improvement in mood, cognition, energy, memory, and sleep.
Tips for Completing this Challenge
- If you are feeling overly fatigued or seem to have a mental block, it may be beneficial to take a quick walk and reset. It can be helpful to create a routine and take a walk at scheduled times/intervals daily.
- Having a partner to walk with can help keep you motivated and also helps develop the routine over time. You can also set various destinations/loops for your walk to keep things different and interesting.
- Combining walking with adequate water consumption goes hand in hand with improving your overall health and wellness. Together, you are improving both physiological and physical function!
- Consider incorporating variants to this challenge! Walking up hills or stairs can be a good method for smooth strength training. Walking downhill causes eccentric tension on the muscles and can also help build muscular strength. You may also try things such as weighted vests/backpacks (increase the difficulty), wearing sweatshirts/sweatpants (increase perspiration), walking in the hills/in sand rather than streets/sidewalks (better for joints), and increasing the rate at which you walk (improved endurance).
The Importance of Proper Footwear
The type of shoe you wear while being active can have a dramatic impact on the kinematics of your entire body. Things to look for in a pair of exercise shoes would be durability, mobility, and comfort. Durability is important to withstand the terrain you may be walking over, as a poorly made shoe can cause injury. Mobility is very important. If a show feels restrictive on your foot, it is subtly changing your natural gait cycle, which can lead to inflammation anywhere from head to toe. Finally, it is obvious that you’re going to want any shoe to be comfortable. However, the more a shoe conforms to your foot, the more natural your movements will be and therefore, the less risk of inflammation and pain in the body.
