Taking Steps to Better Health

You can do this as part of your daily activity, as we did, or begin a regular walking program. If you want to try the latter, Dr. Schriner suggests starting on a flat surface, like the local high-school track, and spending a few days getting used to things. When you feel you’ve got the routine down, ratchet up your walking by about 25 percent every other day until you reach at least 45 to 60 minutes of brisk walking a day. If that doesn’t add up to at least 10,000 steps, then you can find ways to increase the amount of walking in your day—like parking farther from the entrance in the mall or using the stairs instead of the escalator.

We hope we’ve inspired you. If so, check out the American College of Sports Medicine web site: www.acsm.org . If you type “pedometer” into the search box, you’ll get information about buying a pedometer and testing for accuracy. Happy walking!

© 2006