WE LIVE IN DANGEROUS TIMES
There are only two phases in life - a phase of growth and development and then a phase of decline, usually starting in the twenties. But this is not due to the onset of the normal biological process of ageing, it is the result of the dangerous environment in which we live. Of course the environment has always been dangerous and in the early days of our evolution it was an environment full of dangerous animals and neighbours, with food scarce and hard to catch or find. For this reason we have evolved genetically so that our genome, as the collection of genes in every cell is called, is particularly suited for constant activity and for putting fat quickly if there is a surplus of food - to lay down reserves for the hard times to come.
But the environment has now changed to one in which we have to spend most of our waking hours sitting down home at work or when travelling to and from work, if we are still able to commute, and instead of walking to the cinema or the theatre we now have a cinema and theatre in every home - the television and the Internet. Equally dangerous is the ubiquitous offer of calories, wherever we look or turn. Our genes are mismatched to this environment and for this reason we develop a number of diseases due to the mismatch of our genetic inheritance and the environment. Often people are blamed for their 'lifestyle' causing the modern epidemics like stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, type2 diabetes and even dementia, because it is clear now that Alzheimer's diseases causes only about 70% of dementia cases.
So, let's get going and develop a plan for walking more.
Walking more
The modern world discourages walking, jobs that require sitting down at your screen, shops that require a car to reach them and a whole variety of other constraints; we now walk much less than we did even thirty years ago when car ownership was much lower. So the benefit of walking is that everyone needs to walk more, but what do we mean by the word, “more”.
For many years 10,000 steps was taken as the target that everyone should aim for, but in the last 5 years there has been a focus, not just on steps, but on the minutes of brisk walking.
This comes from international recognition of the fact that if you want to reduce your risk of most of the common epidemics you need thirty minutes of exercise of, “moderate intensity”, at least 5 days a week. The term, “moderate intensity” means that you can hear your breath coming a little more quickly and so can others, but you are still able to carry on a conversation. This is different from exercise of “high intensity” such as running in which carrying on a conversation is impossible.
Because of this the focus is now on the minutes of brisk activity and the NHS Active10 App actually measures the minutes of brisk activity. The aim therefore is to walk at least 30 minutes a day briskly. To stick to the international guidelines doing this five days a week is sufficient to reduce your risk of, for example, cardiovascular disease, but many people find it easier just to make it a daily routine, and to do this 7 days a week, which is almost certainly better than five, for mental health as well as physical health.
The 30 minutes does not need to be taken as one single block so you can fit it into your day, for example walking briskly for five minutes between two Teams digital meetings and if you are an influential organisation you should make it a rule that all one hour meetings should finish after fifty-five minutes to allow people to capture just a few minutes of precious brisk walking.
Every step counts
We need a Revolution
The need for the importance of walking to be recognised and for walking to be encouraged, enabled, supported and prescribed needs a revolution, and there are 4 very important organisations leading the way:
Enjoyment and well being
There are only two phases in life - a phase of growth and development and then a phase of decline, usually starting in the twenties. But this is not due to the onset of the normal biological process of ageing, it is the result of the dangerous environment in which we live. Of course the environment has always been dangerous and in the early days of our evolution it was an environment full of dangerous animals and neighbours, with food scarce and hard to catch or find. For this reason we have evolved genetically so that our genome, as the collection of genes in every cell is called, is particularly suited for constant activity and for putting fat quickly if there is a surplus of food - to lay down reserves for the hard times to come.
But the environment has now changed to one in which we have to spend most of our waking hours sitting down home at work or when travelling to and from work, if we are still able to commute, and instead of walking to the cinema or the theatre we now have a cinema and theatre in every home - the television and the Internet. Equally dangerous is the ubiquitous offer of calories, wherever we look or turn. Our genes are mismatched to this environment and for this reason we develop a number of diseases due to the mismatch of our genetic inheritance and the environment. Often people are blamed for their 'lifestyle' causing the modern epidemics like stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, type2 diabetes and even dementia, because it is clear now that Alzheimer's diseases causes only about 70% of dementia cases.
So, let's get going and develop a plan for walking more.
Walking more
The modern world discourages walking, jobs that require sitting down at your screen, shops that require a car to reach them and a whole variety of other constraints; we now walk much less than we did even thirty years ago when car ownership was much lower. So the benefit of walking is that everyone needs to walk more, but what do we mean by the word, “more”.
For many years 10,000 steps was taken as the target that everyone should aim for, but in the last 5 years there has been a focus, not just on steps, but on the minutes of brisk walking.
This comes from international recognition of the fact that if you want to reduce your risk of most of the common epidemics you need thirty minutes of exercise of, “moderate intensity”, at least 5 days a week. The term, “moderate intensity” means that you can hear your breath coming a little more quickly and so can others, but you are still able to carry on a conversation. This is different from exercise of “high intensity” such as running in which carrying on a conversation is impossible.
Because of this the focus is now on the minutes of brisk activity and the NHS Active10 App actually measures the minutes of brisk activity. The aim therefore is to walk at least 30 minutes a day briskly. To stick to the international guidelines doing this five days a week is sufficient to reduce your risk of, for example, cardiovascular disease, but many people find it easier just to make it a daily routine, and to do this 7 days a week, which is almost certainly better than five, for mental health as well as physical health.
The 30 minutes does not need to be taken as one single block so you can fit it into your day, for example walking briskly for five minutes between two Teams digital meetings and if you are an influential organisation you should make it a rule that all one hour meetings should finish after fifty-five minutes to allow people to capture just a few minutes of precious brisk walking.
Every step counts
We need a Revolution
The need for the importance of walking to be recognised and for walking to be encouraged, enabled, supported and prescribed needs a revolution, and there are 4 very important organisations leading the way:
- The Ramblers with its Wellbeing Walks and its campaigning for the rights of walkers
- Living Streets with its campaigns, for example the campaign against pavement parking
- Slow Ways identifying and publishing an Atlas of ways of walking between towns and villages
- Parkrun ( www.parkrun.org.uk/ ) because parkruns are now encouraging people who cannot run to walk their circuit
Enjoyment and well being
