Reduce Chance of Stroke with Casual Walking

As I'm writing this article it is a beautiful day in Seattle. I did the research for this article and promptly turned to my four year old, who was waiting for dad to drive her to school, and asked her if she would rather get a ride or walk! As most kids (I hope!) do she definitely wanted the chance to walk which made me smile and I strapped her baby sister onto my back and said, "Let's go!"

Walking at any pace
What I learned was that research done at Harvard School of Public Health found that women who walked 2 hours a week had a 30% lower risk of having a stroke! This means that just a 30 minute walk 4 times a week and our risk of stroke is cut dramatically.

Brisk Walking
Even better than 'just' walking the brisk walkers cut their risk of stroke 37% lower than women who didn't walk.

What This Means
For me, this is very important news, because having been diagnosed with a stroke at the age of 18 I am VERY interested in doing anything I can to not have that experience again. For me a stroke was losing the ability to move half of my body for a period of time and spending hours and hours a week going to physical therapy, occupational therapy, waiting in the clinic to have blood drawn to check my PT (Prothrombin Time), and of course visiting specialists to figure out 'why' it happened. For me the determined cause had little to do with not walking (it was linked to birth control and a Patent Foramen Ovale) as I was a very active teenager but as I mature I know that it could happen again at some point and all that I can do to avoid it should be taken into consideration.

How to do it
Ways to get 120 minutes of walking into our day are easier than it might seem, today for instance, I decided to just walk around the neighborhood to check out what was growing in the gardens of my neighbors. I ended up having a conversation with one and it definitely helped make my day better, not just because I know the activity will help reduce my risk of stroke, but because I met one of my neighbors and I'm all for knowing people in the community. Other options are, depending of course on where you are located, walking to get your cup of coffee in the morning (I also walked about a mile to do that this morning) you can park at the parking places furthest from the store entrance when you go anywhere, this is a good trick because it does add up! Even if you go to a big mall, park at the opposite end of the mall and inside do a lap before you go into each store.

Personally I like walking around the neighborhood the best though, maybe because there is less pressure to spend money that way. How are you going to increase the time you spend walking in your life?

Sources:
American Heart Association (2010, April 8). Walking associated with lower stroke risk in women. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 8, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/04/100406162945.htm
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2010/04/07/2010-04-07_walking_at_a_moderate_pace_can_lower_womens_stroke_risk_study.html

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