European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 s c e n stars and stripes sunday april 15 2007 d o 0 0 walk away the weight the entire body benefits when the feet try for 10000 Steps if you Haven gotten your 10000 today maybe you should Steps that is Many of today fitness regimens recommend walking 10000 Steps per Day theres Only one problem almost nobody knows How far that is do you Burn 200 Steps puttering around your House in the morning before work or a thousand does a walk around a City Block Knock off 5 percent of your daily goal Orless than 1 sure you can guess or try to count All your Steps but that inaccurate at Best and annoying to say the least recently in the name of Good health we bought a Pedometer and measured various daily activities step by step walking the dog around the Block going to the grocery store two hours of clothes shopping at a local mall we know How Many Steps it takes but we didst Stop there just for fun we set out to find How far wed go if we walked 10000 Steps All at once the answer much farther than we thought with our 10000th step we wound up where More Miles away we can hear your incredulity now i have to walk Miles to reach 10000 Steps relax you dont have to do it All at once remember every step counts but Why even bother trying to get 10000 Steps per Day two words your health and yes just by walking you can make significant gains i think 10000 Steps should be everybody daily goal said Kristie Harbaugh owner of twin fitness in Overland Park Kan i Tell my clients to buy a Pedometer and see How Many Steps they get she said most people Only get about half that the idea of walking 10000 Steps per Day is enjoying a Renaissance in the United states it originated in the 1970s with japanese re searcher Yoshiro Hatano who advocated walking to help slim Down his increasingly obese country today walking has gained popularity for Many reasons its easy theres to equipment to buy and unlike jogging or other High Impact exercises theres virtually no risk of injury and talk about health benefits a University of Tennessee study published in the journal Medicine and science in sports and exercise revealed women who averaged More than 10000 Steps per Day had 40 percent less body fat and Waist and hip measurements that were More than eight inches narrower than those who averaged fewer than 6000 Steps then theres the Amish researchers measured the daily Steps of 98 Amish adults and found that men took an average of 18425 Steps and women took 14196 compare that with about 4000 Steps for the average Ameri can adult other studies put this number at less than and it is easy to see Why Only 4 percent of Amish adults Are considered obese act a Pedometer can help walkers achieve their daily goals compared with 31 percent of the general population attention older americans if you walk Long enough you could even trigger biochemical changes that grow new neurons in your brain a study by researchers at the University of Illinois published late last year in the journal of gerontology says three hours of brisk walking per Day can help reverse brain shrink age but you dont need to walk that Long to see benefits in an Lightyear study involving 6000 women researchers at the University of California at san Francisco found that even a Little extra walking can help you hold onto the neurons you have High Energy walkers the study found held the line on cognitive decline far better than the More sedentary subjects by All accounts your brain loves to walk walking increases blood circulation and because its not particularly strenuous your leg Muscles dont hog All the extra oxygen and glucose it produces As you walk youre oxygenating your brain its Good for the rest of your body too it increases your breathing your heart rate and your lung capacity while shaping and ton ing your Muscles whats More numerous studies of senior citizens who walk regularly showed significant improvement in memory skills compared with no walkers walking also improved their learning ability concentration and abstract reasoning additionally one study noted stroke risk was Cut by in people who walked As Little As 20 minutes per Day Dixie Thompson director for the Center for physical activity and health at the University of Tennessee said that because extra walking Lowers blood pressure and helps the body process glucose it also can dramatically re Duce your risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes of course slow walking int As Good As fast walking Thompson said but it beats inactivity and still has health benefits there Are even social and family bonding benefits people can walk in groups of two or three said Harbaugh of twin fitness the time passes very fast that key because people often become bored with their work out if we can make it More fun people will work out More and i encourage families to go on walks right after dinner twice around the Block and take their dog with them if children see their mom or dad walking that going to encourage them to become Active too Bottom line theres nothing to lose by aiming for 10000 Steps per Day look at it this Way experts say even if you reach Only 8000 Steps youve still doubled your amount of daily walking and that will still pay big benefits now get out there and Start walking Steps through the Day taking the stairs to the third floor instead of the elevator 62 walking in to get fast food instead of using the drive through 74 getting ready for work in the morning 245 walking around an average suburban Block 535 walking around an average City Block 594 going to the Library 680 100 grocery trip 790 two hours of clothes shopping at a mall 1800 on Emile walk 2060 25mile walk 5200 first came the hot rat then the lord or the rings now return to Mijilee arts coming in april at select military bookstores the first Complete toll Den took in 30 years