Why Walk?

12/16/2009

A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.
Winnie The Pooh

"Biking and rowing may get your heart racing, but a low-intensity stroll in the park five to six times a week is actually more effective in preventing obesity and eliminating heart risk factors including insulin sensitivity, total cholesterol, and blood pressure. Walkers trimmed their waistlines more and shed more weight." This advice comes from an article, "Walk This Way," in Psychology Today (November 2009). The article also offered this incentive to walk:

"Walking improves memory. Subjects who walked on a treadmill were better at correctly identifying which numbers were repeated in a series of digits read aloud. Walking also improves attention, bolsters your ability to ignore distractions — probably because walking activates brain regions associated with attention."

Getting Kids Moving

Exchange has a great resource on getting children walking, running, moving. Beginnings Workshops Book #5 - Curriculum: Art, Music, Movement, Drama includes the following articles on promoting gross motor development:

Learning Through Music: The Support of Brain Research by Elizabeth B. Carlton
Music and Movement Bring Together Children of Differing Abilities by Carol Stock Kranowitz
From Cartwheels to Caterpillars: Children’s Needs to Move Indoors and Out by Anita Rui Olds
Kids Gotta Move: Adapting Movement Experiences for Children With Differing Abilities by Carol Stock Kranowitz
Roughhousing As a Style of Play by Rick Porter
Moving Teachers to Move Children by Margie Carter

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