TRIB TOTAL MEDIA SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 · 15
IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE
takes a toll, and there’s pretty
good evidence to support
that.”
Fortunately, she said,
there’s also mountains of evi-dence
to support the benefits
of walking.
The Arthritis Foundation
website lists a number of
benefits to walking, citing nu-merous
studies on the topic,
that include improved circu-lation,
better bone strength,
stronger muscles, better sleep,
greater joint support, slower
mental decline and a lower
risk of developing Alzheim-er’s
disease.
Walking also improves
heart and lung function,
reduces the risk of heart
attack and stroke and helps
with conditions such as high
blood pressure, high choles-terol
and type-2 diabetes and
can help with weight loss.
Walking outside in the
winter — yes, the Western
Pennsylvania winter — can
also help keep seasonal af-fective
disorder at bay. Even
with Pittsburgh’s share of
gray days in the winter, there
are also plenty of days where
the sun peaks through allow-ing
you to get that exposure
needed for your body to
make vitamin D. Plus, get-ting
sunlight on your face
always feels good no matter
the season.
With a base layer, par-ticularly
one that wicks away
moisture from the body, a
warm layer such as a fleece
and a jacket up top (along
with a hat and gloves) and a
thin base layer under some
jeans or pants, you should be
primed for the weather.
There’s also a mental and
emotional well-being com-ponent
to getting out and
taking a walk.
“If you threw in walking
with a loved one, such as
a friend or another family
member, I would think that
would also provide impor-tant
social support and an
outlet for emotions that you
might not otherwise get,”
Donovan said.
“Those are big things.
Plus, you get that feeling of
respite when you take care of
yourself.”
Doctors also often recom-mend
that patients being
treated for cancer keep walk-ing
and stay active because
it improves their level of
fatigue if they walk regularly
and can increase their ap-petite
and outlook.
“If the patient and the care-giver
can do that together,
they can both feel like they’re
taking care of each other,
which is a pretty powerful
feeling,” Donovan said.
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