A great way to follow a new lifestyle to begin operating

Walking to Live Better and Longer
Walking is so simple a form of exercise that we tend to really take it for granted. You can begin your exercise routing right now with walking, no equipment needed. It will not only increase your physical well-being but help with joint pain, chronic pain, depression, and give you some Vitamin D from the sun. All this will help you sleep better and even increase your self-esteem and who does not need more self-esteem.

In the heat of the summer you may need to walk inside. The mall is a great place to start. Try going in the early morning or the late afternoon or evening when the crowds are down. You can even reward yourself with something like a new pair of shorts or walking shoes for beginning your new lifestyle. If you are walking outside be sure and protect your skin with sunscreen and your eyes with a good pair of uvb,uva sunglasses.

Try to stretch a bit before you begin and again when you finish your walk. You want to wear good walking shoes with good support. This is especially important for anyone with knee, foot or back problems.

Challenge yourself to walk faster in intervals. Maybe take along an IPod or other form of music and walk faster during the chorus of each song. This will increase your strength, heart-rate and the effectiveness of your new routine. Move your arms quickly at 90 degree angle and take quick small steps, almost a jog. When you get winded or tired slow down to your normal walking pace. If you like take your pulse by pressing on your carotid artery on your neck or putting the tips of your index finger and 3rd and 4th finger on the area of your wrist just above your thumb. Your target heart-rate is 200 minus your age. Normal pulse rate for and adult is 60-100 beats per minute.

Try to walk for at least 15 to 20 minutes on your first trip and then increase by 5 to 10 minute intervals each time you walk till you get to a comfortable time of exercise for you. Anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour is optimal. You are probably more likely to keep up your routine at 30 minutes 4 to 5 times a week if you take along music or a walking buddy and especially if you make it a routine part of your life. It takes about one month for a new activity to become a habit in our lives.
Researcher, Stephanie Studenski, a geriatric physician, found that longevity increased with the speed of our walking.

Growth hormone, insulin, cortical and testosterone are released after exercise and increase muscle growth and strength. Walking builds the following muscles.

• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
• Calf muscles
• Gluteus Maximum

Try to set a limit of the times of walking each week that you will not go below. Say 3 times a week. Change the routine of your walk, like go the opposite direction and find new paths to explore. Notice how your body feels as you walk, increase heart rate, muscle and joint strength as the blood pulses through your body and your emotional feelings as your endorphins increase. You can even purchase a pedometer and keep up with your steps and your heart rate changes. If you do decide to purchase a pedometer, 5000 steps is too little but double that to 10000 steps and you are on the way to weight loss and muscle strength. Be sure to take water along. This is especially important on hot days.

Do not wear arm or ankle weights. These can put dangerous stress on your joints. An abdominal strength training belt will help with posture and keep your abdominal muscles tight.

Keep a diary and notice the changes in the way you feel as you begin exercising. Note positive moods, sleeping better, stronger muscles and more energy. You may even see some weight loss early on depending on your diet.
Walking can be an easy way to make your life better and keep you strong for your loved ones.

Studies have shown walking and biking help with some chronic illnesses such as Parkinson's.

Table for how strength grows with walking
From the Journal of Applied Psychology. Study showing how restriction of venous blood supply to legs while walking increasing muscles size. Interesting, although very technical


References
This article was written by Robert Starr. It is a great website with references to exercise, nutrition, body building and strength training, Links available to specific exercises such as cardiovascular training, specific muscle group training, stretching, etc,. Specific workouts suggested for each season and tips on weight and fat loss.

Author Shannon Clark offers tips on how to prevent brain fog such as eating more almonds. Getting more sleep, having sex more often, performing brain stimulating puzzles and decreasing stress by walking, laughing, deep breathing, listening to music and having a hobby. Also for mind health eat more whole wheat and cut back on sugar, taking a B-complex vitamin daily, drinking more apple juice for keratinize and meditating.

USA Track and Field-Race Walking
Great webpage with article from Dept of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University. Great tips for beginning your exercise routine. Shoes to buy, stretches, ways to motivate and links to other forms of exercise and physical fitness.
Great walking tours

These are two of my favorite place to walk. I have walked through Charleston in the heat of the summer gazing into beautiful garden and ending up looking over the harbor. In Central Pare both summer and Snowy winter walking through all the wonderful nooks and grannies. The awesome skating rink, lake, children’s zoo and adlib entertainment in the park. A lot of diversion but 2 great places to exercise and not even realize how much ground you have covered!!!!

Measuring Happiness People, buyers are more successful

A new study found that people who are in more positive moods make faster and more consistent decisions.

If your answer to feeling blue is to go shopping, you might have a problem — and not just of the hoarder variety. A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that it’s better to shop when you’re in a good mood because you make more consistent, wiser choices. So while retail therapy might be soothing, bummed-out trips to the mall also might explain all those strange outfits in your closet.

Study authors Paul Herr and Derick Davis of Virginia Tech, Christine Page of Skidmore College and Bruce Pfeiffer of the University of New Hampshire conducted the research to focus on one of the most basic interactions in decision making: how one’s mood affects the appearance and assessment of objects. For example, a puppy might be the most adorable thing on Earth when you’re happy, but when you’re annoyed you might see the little guy as nothing more than a yapping poop machine.

“There has been considerable debate about how affect (moods, emotions, feelings) influences the quality of people’s decisions,” they wrote in the paper. “We join this debate by looking at affect’s influence on a very basic element of decision-making: deciding if an object is liked or disliked.”

The study itself was pretty straightforward. The research showed test subjects pictures of positive things, like said puppy, or negative things, like diseased feet (yes, really), to manipulate the subjects’ moods one way or the other. After, the subjects were shown pictures of everyday objects and told to pick positive or negative adjectives from a list to describe those objects.

People in a positive mood were both faster at picking adjectives, whether they were positive or negative, and more consistent, meaning that when shown the same object they were less likely to change their previous positive or negative assessment of it. There wasn’t a metric for whether the answers were right or not, because none of them are clearly correct. Everyone perceives things differently, so while we might find a vacuum as a positive thing, someone else mind it abhorrent. Plus, it’s the same situation when you’re out shopping anyway.

What the study does show is that people who are in a good mood make more consistent decisions based on their own opinions. In terms of retail, this could be huge. Rather than having a store pumping house music with abrasive models for employees, a place that makes customers feel happy might end up with people making more purchases they actually want and fewer returns.