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September
14, 2006
“Why do we have to wear these, anyway?” my 8-year-old daughter asked. “They’re called pedometers, and it’s because we’re doing that ‘Walk North Dakota’ thing,” my 11-year-old son responded, a little impatiently. This is a teachable moment, I thought as the three of us took our daily two-mile walk around the neighborhood on a pleasant, warm evening. “Do you know why walking is important?” I asked them. “It’s healthy for you, kind of like fruits and vegetables,” my daughter quickly answered, knowing she’d score some points with mom for that answer. Not to be outdone by his little sister, my son added, “It’s good for your muscles and bones, too.” They both were right. For now, I didn’t elaborate on the role of walking in helping prevent future health issues, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Children are all about the “here and now.” “You still didn’t tell me why we have to wear these pedometers,” my daughter said, looking sideways at her brother and placing particular emphasis on the new word in her vocabulary. “Pedometers help us keep track of how many steps we take so we can compare one day with another,” I said. “The goal is 10,000 steps a day. We want to stay active and even try to increase our number of steps over our eight weeks in the Walk North Dakota program. Here’s a math question for you. There are about 2,000 steps in a mile, so how many miles is 10,000 steps?” “That’s five miles!” my son said. My son announced a pedometer check, so we all paused and popped open our pedometer cases. I was at about 11,000 steps after a busy day at work, even though I spent quite a bit of time at a computer. My son’s pedometer reading was 14,000 and my daughter’s 9,000. With a little calculation, they were amazed at the number of miles they had walked so far that day. “He has more steps because his gym class is 40 minutes long, and my class only is 20 minutes!” she exclaimed. Her brother grinned at her. “We had a good time in gym playing basketball, too,” he teased. This was getting a little competitive, but interesting. At least they had some idea of how much activity they were getting. Family walks, like family meals, are a great opportunity to reconnect, I thought to myself. As we continued to walk, they told me all about their day, from what they ate for lunch to why Pluto was demoted as a planet. You can learn more about pedometers and fitness at the Walk North Dakota Web site at www.walknd.com. Pedometers are available in a variety of colors and styles. Some are fancy models with clocks, timers and calculators for calories burned and distance traveled. Some require some programming before they can be used, such as figuring out your stride length. Some even have global positioning systems, so you know where you are in an unfamiliar place. We prefer the simplest model with one button: reset. We put on our pedometers in the morning, zero them by pressing the reset button, then we record our steps at night on a data sheet. When putting on a pedometer, close it securely and attach it to your waistband parallel to the ground and positioned over your kneecap. Consider getting a safety leash to avoid losing it. If your pedometer doesn’t come with a leash, be creative and use a thick rubber band to fasten the pedometer to a belt loop. Here’s a refreshing fruit beverage to enjoy after a walk. It’s from the USDA’s recipe finder Web site at http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/.
### Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Market Advisor: |
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North Dakota State University |
