Walking Guide: It's Good Medicine!

By request, the Vascular Disease Foundation is pleased to provide a single list of the many tips for walking that were featured over several issues of Keeping in Circulation. Post this adapted version where it can remind you to get out and WALK!

1. Walk as if your life depended on it. Because it does! Walking increases your good (HDL) cholesterol, decreases the chance of blood clots, drives calcium into your bones and is a great stress and depression reliever.
   
   
2. Reward yourself…for making positive behavior changes in your activity status. Set a goal of walking at least five days a week. The distance or time doesn't matter at first. You are just trying to establish a healthy habit, not win a marathon. Then reward yourself each week that you achieve this goal.
   
   
3. Walk because you still can! So many people with PAD can't. If you can only go 20 steps, do it. Then rest. Then walk again.
   
   
4. Variety is the spice of life. While it's good to have a regular walking route to measure improvement, you may get bored. A change may give you new motivation to keep walking. Try a different neighborhood, the mall, a park, the zoo, a nature trail, along a lake.
   
   
5. If the shoe fits…wear it around the block. If it doesn't, throw it out. Treat yourself to some really good walking/exercise shoes. It will keep your feet protected and make the walk easier.
   
   
6. Leave your cigarettes at home! One of the best ways to help yourself quit smoking is to go for a walk when the craving strikes. That craving will pass even if you don't smoke. WALK! Breathe in some good oxygen instead of tar and nicotine. Your arteries will be happier and healthier.
   
   
7. March to a different drummer. Invest in a small portable tape or CD player and headphones and listen to your favorite music as you walk. It's easier to forget the aches and pains if you have a pleasant distraction.
   
   
8. Speaking of marching…when your calf muscle starts to hurt when you are walking, start marching instead of walking. It rests the calf muscle a bit more than walking yet keeps you exercising. When the calf muscle has recovered, start walking again.
   
   
9. Book 'em, Dano! Now that you have the tape player, how about listening to books on tape? Nothing like looking forward to the next chapter of a suspenseful mystery to get you out walking. No fair cheating! Only allow yourself to listen when you are out walking.
   
   
10. Be your own competition for all those who just have to compete. Try to better YOUR previous walking record.
    
    
11. A friend in need (of a walk) is a friend indeed. Research shows that having a companion who will walk with you helps you stick to a regular walking program. Find someone who will match your level of walking and won't mind slowing down or stopping if you need a breather. And chose someone who will try to talk you into walking on those days when you call to say you don't want to!
    
    
12. Fall off the wagon? So you got out of the walking habit. It's just a relapse into your old behavior and it doesn't have to be permanent. You can start again. Just slap on those walkin' shoes and put one foot in front of the other. Soon you'll be back in the groove.
    
    
13. Sunrise…sunset. Just like finding a different place to walk, experimenting with a different time of day for your walk may give you new inspiration. Anyone for a moonlight stroll?
    
    
14. Once begun…half done. Make a pact with yourself. When your will power is down, promise yourself that you aren't allowed to decide about walking until you are dressed and out the door and have started your walk. Half the battle is usually getting out the door. Once you've put forth the effort to get out the door, you might as well keep walking.
    
    
15. Walking is like food. Both are an every day essential. You need nutrition for your body; your muscles and legs need 'exercise nutrition'. Walk every day, knowing that if you miss a day here and there, you will still meet the recommended 5 times a week!
    
    
16. It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too windy, it's too rainy, it's too snowy, it's too early, it's too late, I'm too busy, I'm too bored…you want cheese with that "whine"? Right now, write down a list of all the good reasons why you should walk and another list of all the bad things that will happen if you don't walk. Keep those lists handy (right next to your list of rewards for when you DO walk) and refer to it when your will power is weakening. Nine times out of ten, half way through your walk you won't even be able to remember why in the world you didn't want to walk.

Author Mitzi Ekers, MS, ARNP is a nurse practitioner who has been working with vascular patients for more than 30 years. She is Director of Vascular Services at the Heart and Vascular Institute of Florida in St. Petersburg. She helped start both the Society for Vascular Nursing and the Society of Vascular Ultrasound.