Walking is one of the easiest ways to exercise. And with our Get Moving challenge, you’re already a step ahead.
For most adults, experts recommend getting between 30 – 60 minutes of exercise a day for good health and weight loss. Another way to think about it is 10,000 steps a day, or around five miles of individual steps. Dr. Dean Ornish’s1 lifestyle changes study2 suggests that for some, trying to “baby step” to this goal (simply parking further from your destination, taking the stairs) can lead to failure. The results simply don’t support the effort.
So commit. Think about the positive consequences of shooting for every single one of those 10,000 steps a day. Playing with your kids without being winded. Fitting into your goal jeans. Coming off expensive medications. After consulting with your doctor, don’t be afraid to jump in with both feet and make radical changes.
Set a goal of one month. Stick with your radical changes – eating a super-healthy diet and exercising every day – for a month. Take stock of the positive results you see. Success is a much more powerful motivator than fear. And joy trumps them both.
If you’re enrolled in a CIGNA Dental plan through GuideStone, you can find more information by visiting Cigna’s walking for wellness and fitness page.
1 Dr. Dean Ornish is a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and founder of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, in Sausalito, California.
2 Ornish D, Scherwitz L, Billings J, et al. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease Five-year follow-up of the Lifestyle Heart Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1998; 280: 2001-2007
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