Getting healthy is simple- Take a walk

Who has time to get healthy?

Or so goes the lament common to the hordes of harried Baby Boomers, enthralled by their ever expanding schedules.

Evidently they are not alone. A mere 3 percent of all Americans take the time to actually get healthy; this, according to a major Michigan State University study just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers determined that there are four elements to a healthy lifestyle: Not smoking; eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis; maintaining a healthy weight; and exercising at least 30 minutes, five times a week.

It is that last one -- the 150 minutes of exercise a week -- that scored lowest with us lazy Americans. No excuses! There really is a simple, time-effective way to get that healthy amount of exercise. Do something most of us have to do anyway every day: Walk.

This is a no-brainer, especially when you consider the impressive list of benefits that accrue to vigorous and consistent walking: Reduction in body fat, blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure; mitigating depression and mental decline; encouraging stronger bones. Studies have shown that approximately three hours a week of walking cuts the risk of coronary heart disease by one-third and Type 2 diabetes by over half!

I realize that many of my fellow Boomers are hip to this and have taken up "power walking" with the same gusto as their parents once took up bridge or the Samba.

Why is power walking so popular with my time-challenged peers? I suspect it is because it is a perfect opportunity to multitask. A poll of my correspondents supported this suspicion.

By far the biggest task is talking on the cell phone. Close behind talking-and-walking is, no surprise, listening to the iPod. Then there is walking the dog or strolling the late-in-life kiddies or grandchildren. Madeline, a 51-year-old mom, told me: "My 4-year-old twins are not as chic an accessory as an iPod, but it's definitely a cardio challenge to keep up with them."

Others reported that they work on their posture while walking, dish with a best friend, even do Kegel exercises.

And then there are the "walking meditators." Carolyn is someone who walks "meditatively" every day: "It is all about being present, being aware of feeling my lungs fill up full and then completely emptying them, feeling the earth push back on my every footstep. Power walking is powerful because it keeps my head in the moment. I am not going through my laundry list of things to do; I take a wonderful walking vacation from all that."

Breathing is an obvious benefit from vigorous walking and it is something most of us don't do in a fully healthful fashion. Pilates experts Leanna Doyle points out that as we get older we tend to breathe more and more shallowly, which is the culprit for all kinds of health concerns.

"I tell my clients to use their walks as an opportunity to breathe, 'three-dimensionally,' consciously and fully breathing into the ribs.

"How's that for multitasking?" she adds. "Just breathe!"

All of this multitasking -- from the more spiritual to the profane -- is beneficial if it gets you out there moving.

But perhaps you want to be like Mark, just "blowing out cerebral congestion" when you walk ... or like Tim: doing nothing but "watching and listening to the birdies go tweet, tweet, tweet."

It's all good. Just don't forget to breathe.

Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh, a Cape Girardeau native, is a clinical psychologist who lives and works in Santa Barbara, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.