Walk For Your Heart

Most of us know that February is American Heart Month. It gets us thinking about things we can do for better heart health. For me that meant losing weight. In 2006 I got serious about getting in better shape and lost 85 lbs. One of the things that has helped me is a pedometer. When I was pregnant with my daughter I did an exercise study which required me to wear a pedometer everyday. The habit has stuck and 6 years later I still wear one. The one I use now is the Omron HJ-112 Digital Premium Pedometer. I love it. Not only does it tell me how many steps I have taken but it also records aerobic steps. It also save your steps taken each day for a week. You can clip to your pants or put it in you pocket which is a great feature.

Recent guidelines say that the we should get 10,000 steps a day. Many people get only between 2000 and 3000 which is quite sedentary. There are little things you can do to get more steps into your day.

• Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend
• Walk the dog
• Walk to the store
• Walk in place during commercials
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park farther from the store
• Get up to change the channel
• Window shop
• Walk over to visit a neighbor
• Get outside to walk around the garden or do a little weeding

Put a few more steps in your day and do you heart some good.