I happened upon an article the other day about fitness and health that specifically addressed daily walking.
No idea how I wound up on the site with the article. I wasn’t looking for it or performing a search on anything related to the article, but there it was in front of me begging to be read.
Search wormhole I suppose.
I even hit back in my browser to maybe see how I wound up there. That yielded nothing. The previous site was the website for a band. Hhhmmm….
No such thing as a coincidence.
I read the article. Maybe the universe was giving me a hint, even though I had just walked 1100 miles and am about to go do 1100 more.
The premise of the article is that science has done research and discovered that we, as humans, were . . . wait for it . . . “designed” for movement. I’m using the article’s word there, so for you atheists and/or agnostics out there, it was not implying a creator, just that our bodies are built, scientifically speaking, for motion. And, hey, you can’t argue with Science (capitalized on purpose).
So, let me get this straight, Science has just now realized something that people have known for thousands of years? Kind of like “fish is food for the brain.” Or “processed foods are bad.” Well, geologically speaking, modern Science is still young, so I’ll chalk it up to youthful ignorance – and the fact that it didn’t listen to its elder, Wisdom.
Back to the article. Science now suggests that we should strive for 10,000 steps on a daily basis. 10,000 steps. That’s quite a lot. It is roughly 5 miles, give or take. And that is approximately 2 hours a day assuming an average pace of 2.5 miles/hour. Additionally, some of the walking should be barefoot in nature. That is to say without shoes and actually OUT in nature.
On top of that, one should still engage in some form of “real” exercise, because, well, walking is not exercise. It’s simply walking.
I got to thinking about all this in conjunction with trying to eat a healthy diet.
NOTE: DO NOT search on THAT. (OR whether two spaces or one should be after a period in a sentence.) Science apparently is very confused on its research regarding that topic. (AND that one, too. Yes, supposedly there is Science backed by research on it. But, there are disagreements between Scientists and Science hasn’t decided which one is right, yet.) This is exactly how Protestantism happened.
My thinking resulted in this:
- Most of us instinctually know what we need. We’ve just quit “listening” to bodies.
- We can’t listen to our bodies because we spend all our time listening to and trying to function in the world around us.
- We, the vast majority of us, know that the key to our health, happiness, and peace is a balanced diet with all foods in moderation; moderate physical activity on a daily basis outdoors in nature; some peaceful time to ourselves; other time for family, friends, and loved ones; and less stress. Science, or our mom, doesn’t need to tell us this.
In other words, we need to simplify our lives and get back to “basics”. It’s not complicated. To simplify, we must simply be mentally and physically pro-active.
A simple life where our focus is on actually living and not making a living pretty much ticks all the boxes.
Now, I need to get out of this chair and do some walking.
See you outside.
Pardon?
Oh, the article! Yeah, here it is: https://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2015/07/03/walking-10000-steps-daily.aspx
But, shouldn’t you be outside getting some nature?