Was a lovely, cool morning for a walk on a lonely trail near Farmville.
If you're not going for a walk every day, then this is probably the single easiest thing you can add to your life that will lower your blood pressure and eventually lower your risk of heart disease and diabetes. The numbers really do shock people. Three years ago my cardiologist told me that I was technically "obese" because I weighed 240 pounds. He felt I was both pre-diabetic and pre-hypertensive. "You need to lose some weight, Dave," he told me firmly but compassionately. That was when I started weight training and getting in my daily steps. Today when I got on the scales I weighed 183 pounds. If you do this consistently, walking can lower your blood pressure more than some of the medications that doctors can prescribe to you. There are no side effects to walking. There are no prescriptions,. There is no clinic to visit. There is no trip to the pharmacy. It costs absolutely nothing. And it works whether you're 24 or 74 like I am. Remember, a blood pressure pill does one thing. It lowers your blood pressure. A blood sugar pill does another. It lowers your blood sugar. But walking does both of these things at once. And on top of that, it improves almost everything else in your body as well, from your mood to your memory to your cognition to your bone health to your kidneys. It works on every single part of your body. The evidence absolutely supports what I'm saying here.
If you've been looking for one change to make with your health, then let it be this one. Build a bit more walking into your day. It's simple. It's free. And it works. Start where you are. Add in a few steps of walking before or after your meals. Increase that very gradually. Measure your blood pressure regularly so you can see how this is improving. I promise you, you will feel so much better.
That day in my cardiologist's office, I told him I didn't want to take a pill for something I could take care of myself through lifestyle changes. I'm so glad I did. You will be too.
P.S. Earlier I did an easy workout at the Y, including this warm-up exercise.
Once again, the whole idea is simply to get your body moving.
It's not about how heavy you lift. Or how often. It's about warding off sarkopenia through exercise. That's it.
You don't have to be a natural athlete. I'm not. I am the most ungainly and untalented exerciser you will ever meet. I nevertheless ran an ultramarathon 3 months ago with a teenager's enthusiasm. My message to anyone who will listen is always the same. It's never too late to start. And it's always too soon to stop.
Come on. Join the fun.