Participants: Don Morgan
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000355
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00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is 00:04 not intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed are those 00:10 of the speaker. Viewers are encouraged 00:13 to draw their own conclusions 00:14 about the information presented. 00:37 Hello and welcome to Wonderfully Made. 00:40 My name is Don Morgan, and I'm an exercise 00:43 physiologist and professor in the Department 00:45 of Health and Human Performance at Middle 00:48 Tennessee State University. This is the 00:51 fourth of a series of programs examining the 00:53 health and spiritual dimensions of leading a 00:57 physically active life. As we've noted in previous 01:00 programs, physical inactivity is associated 01:03 with a number of adverse health conditions, 01:06 including obesity, cardiovascular disease, 01:09 diabetes and certain types of cancers. 01:13 Conversely, growing evidence suggest that 01:16 the accumulation of small bits of physical 01:18 activity each day can lead to striking 01:22 improvements in physical fitness. In 01:24 light of these findings, we're going to be 01:26 talking today about a simple yet affective way 01:31 of quantifying the total volume of physical 01:33 activity that you're getting on a daily basis. 01:37 In my hand, I'm holding a pedometer. 01:41 Pedometers are small, easy to use and relatively 01:45 inexpensive. Although they have been around 01:48 since the time of Leonardo Da Vinci, 01:51 pedometers have experienced a resurgence 01:53 in popularity in recent years. 01:56 Pedometers, as many of you know, 01:59 measure the total number of steps that a 02:01 person takes. Hence, they provide an estimate 02:06 of the overall amount of physical activity that 02:08 has been performed. Pedometers operate by 02:12 the following principle, when you take a step, 02:16 your hips move up and down and this rhythmic 02:19 movement causes a lever in the back of this 02:21 pedometer to deflect or move. Each time the 02:26 lever moves it registers on the pedometer's 02:29 front screen as a step, pretty simple isn't it? 02:35 Walking is a loco-motor activity that has been 02:37 shown to lower death risks in individuals with 02:39 diabetes and heart disease to increase bone 02:42 density in the legs and the trunk and to diminish 02:46 the risk of colon cancer. Because of their 02:49 ability to count steps, the use of pedometers 02:52 is an excellent way of quantifying physical 02:55 activity while walking. It should be noted 02:58 however that pedometers cannot be used to 03:01 quantify exercise volume in activities like 03:04 swimming or cycling and resistance training, 03:07 because none of them incorporate vertical 03:10 hip motions. Now that doesn't mean that you 03:13 shouldn't perform these activities. 03:16 Swimming and bicycling can strengthen the heart 03:18 and the lungs and weight training builds muscle 03:20 mass and stronger bones. Later in this program, 03:25 we'll talk about how to account for these 03:27 activities using something called step equivalents. 03:32 At this point, an interesting question to 03:35 ask would be how many steps should I take per 03:39 day to achieve and maintain good health. 03:42 While this question has not been answered in 03:45 a definitive way the following graphic provides 03:48 some current guidelines relating to daily 03:50 stepping rates to physical activity levels. 03:54 As you can see, taking less than 5,000 steps 03:58 per day places you in a sedentary category 04:02 between 5,000 and 7,499 steps per day puts 04:07 you in the low-active category, and walking 04:10 at a rate of 7,500 to 9,999 steps per day 04:16 places you in the somewhat active category. 04:19 Once you reached 10,000 or more steps per day 04:23 you are classified as active, and taking 12,500 04:27 steps or more per day means that you are 04:29 highly active. Based on these figures, 04:34 accumulating 10,000 steps per day might be 04:37 viewed as a reasonable level of daily physical 04:40 activity for people to try and achieve. 04:43 Studies have shown for instance that individuals 04:46 who take at least 10,000 steps per day have 04:50 less body fat and lower blood pressure than their 04:53 less active counterparts. In addition, overweight 04:57 and hypertensive women who increase their 04:59 daily physical activity level to 10,000 steps 05:03 reduce their blood pressure, lower their body 05:06 weight and show significant improvements 05:09 in their ability to regulate blood sugar 05:11 levels. Conversely, individuals with pedometer 05:16 readings of less than 5,000 steps per day 05:19 were more likely to be classified as obese. 05:24 Now in trying to established appropriate 05:26 stepping guidelines, it's important to hearken 05:29 back to the recommendation found in the 1996 05:32 surgeon generals report on physical activity and 05:35 health. The primary guideline from this 05:39 report, which we discussed in the second program in 05:42 this series is that people of all ages should 05:45 engage in a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate 05:48 intensity physical activity on most, if not 05:52 all days of the week. The length between this 05:56 physical activity guideline and achieving 10,000 05:59 steps per day comes from data indicating that 06:03 73 percent of participants who engaged in a 06:06 minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical 06:09 activity on a given day, also achieved at least 06:12 10,000 steps on that same day. While the 10,000 06:19 steps per day guideline appears to be a reasonable 06:21 goal for healthy individuals to try and 06:23 reach, this guideline maybe too low for children 06:28 and maybe too high for sedentary individuals. 06:32 Some older adults and persons with chronic 06:34 health problems like arthritis, diabetes and 06:37 heart disease might also think that the 10,000 06:40 step level would be a bit much. I know colleagues 06:44 who have seen their clients lose weight, 06:46 reduced their waist size, enhance their 06:48 physical fitness and lower their blood pressure 06:51 without reaching the magical 10,000 step 06:54 number. Based on these experiences, 06:58 I believe that the key is to adopt an 07:00 individualized approach to increasing your step 07:03 number that features an initial assessment of 07:07 your current level of physical activity, 07:10 and emphasizes a gradual rise in activity level 07:13 overtime. Along these lines research has 07:17 demonstrated that even small increments in step 07:20 number can yield meaningful health gains. 07:25 What is most important is to establish your 07:27 baseline step count and to increase it in an 07:31 incremental and sustainable manner. 07:36 If you've never worn a step pedometer before, 07:40 you might be wondering how many steps people 07:42 take on an average day? To help answer this 07:46 question, I've put together a graphic that's based 07:49 on results from a number of studies conducted 07:52 on a variety of people. As you can see, 07:55 daily step count values can range quite a bit, 07:59 varying from 12,000 to 16,000 steps for 8 to 10 08:03 year old children between 7,000 and 13,000 steps 08:07 for relatively healthy and younger adults, 08:11 between 6,000 to 8,500 steps for healthy older 08:15 adults and between 3,500 and 5,500 steps for 08:20 adults living with disabilities and chronic 08:22 illnesses. The next graphic shows how 08:26 occupational and leisure time status can 08:28 influence the number of steps that people take. 08:32 If you work primarily involves sitting, 08:35 for example, if you're a telephone operator or an 08:38 office worker you may take somewhere between 08:41 4,000 and 5,000 steps per day, if you are on 08:46 your feet all day, but you're not walking around 08:49 a lot like a pharmacist or a hairstylist you might 08:53 get 5,500 to 6,500 steps per day. If your job 08:58 involves a lot of walking for example, 09:01 if you're a nurse or a waiter or a waitress your 09:05 daily step activity can vary from 8,000 to 20,000 09:09 steps per day, and if you're just relaxing or 09:12 lazing around in the weekend you might only get 09:15 2,000 to 3,000 steps per day, and if you're sick 09:20 your daily step activity might not even exceed 09:23 500 steps. Conversely, if you're sightseeing in a 09:28 city or a foreign country you might accumulate 09:31 upto 30,000 steps per day. Besides being 09:35 informative having a sense of typical daily step 09:38 rates across a wide range of occupations and 09:40 lifestyle situations can really be a help and can 09:45 help you to anticipate what your step count 09:47 might be when you start to wear a pedometer. 09:52 One important topic that we haven't discussed yet, 09:55 is what to look for in a pedometer. 09:58 Let me highlight some of the characteristics that 10:01 might be healthful in selecting a pedometer, 10:04 which you can purchase at sporting good 10:06 stores or camping and outfitting establishments. 10:09 First, it should be light weight and have an 10:13 extended battery life or at least the same 10:15 battery life as a watch. Since both use the 10:19 same type of battery. Second, the display on 10:23 the pedometer should be easy to read. 10:26 Third, your pedometer should have a clip that 10:30 attaches snugly to the waistband of your 10:32 clothing or to your undergarments if you're 10:35 wearing overalls or clothing that does not 10:38 have a waistband. If you don't have a 10:41 secure attachment clip, you maybe doing a lot 10:44 of bending over to pick up your pedometer 10:46 when it falls. Now to prevent your pedometer 10:50 from becoming detached, you might consider 10:53 tying a string to the pedometer clip and sliding 10:56 a safety pin through the free end of the string 10:59 and then pinning it to your waistband. 11:02 This will help to secure the pedometer just 11:05 in case it comes lose from your clothes. 11:08 Simplicity is another factor that you want to 11:11 look for when you buy a pedometer. 11:14 Some pedometers offer all sorts of bells and 11:16 whistle for example some claim to measure the 11:20 amount of distance traveled or the number of 11:22 calories that you've expanded, but all you 11:24 really need is a button to zero the pedometer 11:28 prior to beginning a new day of accumulating 11:30 steps. If available, you might want to consider 11:35 purchasing a pedometer with a plastic cover 11:37 on it, to protect the reset button from 11:40 setting itself back to zero. Something that can 11:44 happen for instance when you put a seat 11:46 belt on or accidentally bump up against the 11:48 door. It's also very important that you have 11:53 an accurate pedometer, in other words when 11:57 your pedometer says that you walked a 11:58 100 steps, you want to be confident that you 12:01 have in fact walked 100 steps for something 12:04 very close to 100 steps. One way to check out 12:09 the accuracy of your pedometer is to put it on 12:12 in the store, so just clip it to your clothing 12:14 at your waist that centered right over your 12:17 dominant foot and walk at a comfortable pace 12:20 for 20 steps, with each foot striking the ground 12:24 counting as a step, if your pedometer reads 12:28 20 steps you can feel pretty confident that 12:31 you have an accurate pedometer. 12:33 However, if that count doesn't read 20 steps 12:37 then you can be a little suspicious, 12:40 but don't give up yet, because it's possible 12:43 that something simple like the fact that the 12:45 pedometer somehow rolled onto its side may 12:48 have caused an inaccurate step count reading. 12:52 Once you verify that the pedometer is 12:54 positioned correctly walk another 20 steps 12:58 and look at the display panel. If you still don't 13:01 see a 20 step reading adjust the pedometer 13:04 once again if it's necessary and then repeat 13:08 the walking test one last time. If this count is 13:12 off by a large amount then you can move on 13:15 and test another model. With regard to cost, 13:20 you should expect to pay somewhere between 13:22 $20 and $60 for a decent pedometer. 13:25 However, if you're trying to choose between a 13:28 $20 model and a $60 model and both met the 13:32 criteria mentioned earlier then go cheap 13:35 and buy the $20 model. And, here is one last 13:39 thing, while it's not absolutely necessary, 13:43 buying a good pair of walking or running shoes 13:46 will enable you to move about comfortably 13:49 when you have the opportunity to be 13:50 physically active. Now once you have purchased 13:54 a pedometer, the next thing to do is to 13:57 determine what your baseline step count is 13:59 over a week, to do this wear the pedometer 14:03 during your awaking hours, of course take it 14:06 off when you bathe or swim and record the 14:08 step number at the end of the day right before 14:10 you go to bed. Make sure that during the seven 14:14 day period that you live your life as normally 14:16 as possible, once the week is completed you'll be 14:20 able to start increasing your level of physical 14:22 activity, but don't change anything quite yet, 14:26 when you awaken the next day reset the 14:29 pedometer to zero before you start the 14:31 accumulation of a new days worth of steps. 14:35 Write down the end of the day step recording 14:37 for each day of the week then add together 14:41 all the daily step counts and divide by seven 14:45 to arrive at your baseline step count. 14:49 The following graphic shows an example of 14:51 what I've just described. As you can see, 14:54 I've listed a series of step counts over a 7 14:57 day span. Added them all up to arrive at a 15:00 total of 36,988 steps and then divided this 15:06 number by seven days to obtain a baseline step 15:09 count of 5,284 steps per day. 15:15 Now, once this baseline step count has been 15:17 established, the challenge is to determine how 15:20 much of a step increase you should strive for. 15:24 Here is one way to do this, set your pedometer 15:27 to zero and just walk at your normal phase 15:29 for 10 minutes, at the end of this 10 minute 15:32 period record how many steps you took, 15:36 then remembering that each of us should be 15:39 accumulating at least 30 minutes of moderate 15:41 physical activity everyday multiply your 10 15:45 minute step number by 3 to find out how many 15:47 steps you would take if you walk for 30 minutes. 15:51 Then, add this number to your baseline step 15:55 count to determine your initial step goal. 16:00 I know I just threw out a lot of numbers in 16:02 calculations just then, so let's look at the next 16:05 graphic as we do an example together. 16:07 First, we start with our baseline step count, 16:11 which in the previous example was 52,084 steps. 16:16 Next, let's say that walking at a normal phase 16:19 for 10 minutes results in 900 steps being taken, 16:24 what you do next then is you multiply 900 by 3 16:28 to give you 2,700 steps. Now, all you have to 16:33 do is add 2,700 steps to your baseline step 16:37 count of 5,284 steps to generate an initial step 16:42 goal of 7900 and 84 steps. 16:48 Once this step goal has been established, 16:51 you need to feel fairly confident that you can 16:53 attain it on a daily basis for one whole week. 16:58 If you feel confident about reaching this goal 17:01 then go for it. On the other hand, 17:04 if you believe this goal is a bit too ambitious 17:07 you can lower it to a more comfortable level. 17:12 Now that you have your initial step goal, 17:14 the thing you want to do now is to begin looking 17:17 for ways to increase the number of steps that 17:19 you take each day. In an earlier program, 17:22 we identified a variety of practical ways to add 17:25 more physical activity to your life. 17:28 As you may recall, some of these included 17:31 parking farther away from your bank or from 17:34 the office, getting on or off the bus or trains 17:37 several blocks from your final destination. 17:40 Using the stairs rather than taking the elevator, 17:44 walking to lunch, taking the dog for a walk, 17:48 playing with your kids or grand kids at home 17:50 or at the local park or walking with your spouse 17:54 or a friend in the evening. There are certainly 17:58 other approaches you can take to supplement 18:00 an active lifestyle such as beginning a more 18:02 formalized walking program. Along with upping 18:06 your overall level of physical activity you'll 18:09 also want to avoid steps dealers like using 18:12 drive through windows when you're at the bank 18:15 or using the elevator when you can take the 18:17 stairs. And you should aim to reduce long 18:20 periods of inactivity like watching TV or 18:24 Internet surfing that can rob your chances to 18:27 be physically active. Once you know your 18:30 initial step goal and you've chosen a strategy 18:34 or strategies to attend this goal, 18:37 start tracking and recording the number of 18:39 steps you take each day for a week. 18:43 In following this plan remember that if you 18:45 have a day where your step count is not high you 18:48 can start fresh the next day with a clean slate. 18:52 At the end of this first week of trying to 18:54 reach your initial step goal add the total 18:57 number of steps you took over the seven day 18:59 period and divide this number by seven just 19:03 like we did before to determine your daily 19:06 step count. Once you've done this, 19:09 compare your current daily step activity to your 19:13 step goal. Did you reach or exceed your step 19:17 goal during this first week of increased 19:18 physical activity or did you take more steps 19:21 than your baseline step count but not quite 19:24 reach your step goal. If you didn't meet your 19:27 step goal, but you did increase your step count 19:31 take heart in the fact that you are able to 19:33 raise your level of physical activity. 19:35 In other words, you took more steps each 19:37 day than before and consider reducing your 19:40 step goal downward just a bit. On the other 19:43 hand, if you've exceeded your initial step 19:46 goal you maybe capable of achieving more 19:49 steps per day than you initially thought possible. 19:52 Given the Surgeon General's recommendation 19:54 to be active on most or all days of the week, 19:58 you also want to be aware of whether or not 20:00 you reach your step goal at least 5 out of 7 20:03 days, if you did not reach your goal on at least 20:06 five days then I would suggest that you lower 20:09 your step goal to a more realistic level, 20:12 at least for the time being. Alternatively, 20:16 if you met your step goal at least five days a 20:18 week perhaps you need to readjust your step 20:21 goal upwards a bit. Once you've addressed 20:25 these points it's time for you to select a new 20:28 step goal for you second week increased 20:30 physical activity, chose a step increment and 20:34 add it to your current daily step count to 20:36 establish a new step goal. Once you've 20:39 determined this new goal make sure that you 20:42 feel pretty confident that it is one that you 20:44 can reach on most days of the week, 20:47 then begin your second week of increased 20:50 physical activity. When this second week has 20:53 ended, go through all the steps that we've just 20:56 discussed so that you can evaluate your 20:59 progress. Now I don't want you to think that 21:02 you've got to keep increasing your step goal 21:04 each and every week for the rest of your life 21:06 because you don't have to do that, at some 21:09 point you will reach a step goal that you're 21:11 comfortable with and that you can sustain. 21:15 Often times this happens within four weeks of 21:17 practice and active monitoring of your physical 21:20 activity. In other words, you'll eventually reach 21:24 a level of physical activity that you're 21:26 comfortable with and that works well for you, 21:29 and the most important thing to realize is that 21:33 this final step level whatever it is will be 21:37 greater than your baseline step level, 21:39 which means that you will be taking more steps 21:41 than you did before, you will be expending 21:44 more calories then you did when you started 21:46 out and you will start reaping the positive 21:49 health outcomes that result from following a 21:51 more physically active lifestyle. 21:55 Early in the program, I noted that pedometers 21:58 don't pick up certain physical activities like 22:00 bicycling, swimming or resistance training. 22:05 So you maybe wondering how to account for 22:07 these activities as part of your daily step plan. 22:10 One way to handle this that I would recommend 22:13 is to reward yourself with bonus points 22:17 specifically for each 10 minute period of continues 22:21 bicycling or swimming that you complete, 22:23 add 1000 points or steps to your daily step 22:27 total. Follow the same approach if your 22:30 perform resistance training for the same 22:32 length of time. During this series of programs 22:38 I've talked about the need to develop a physical 22:40 activity mentality to counter the impact of 22:43 labor saving devices. While modern technology 22:48 has improved our lives in countless ways, 22:51 it has also eliminated many opportunities for 22:53 us to be physically active. While indirect 22:57 evidence suggests that past generations led 23:00 much more active lives. It's too bad that we 23:03 can't go back in time and see just how 23:07 active our ancestors were, or can we? 23:13 Last year a colleague of mine conducted a 23:16 study in which physical activity levels in a 23:19 Canadian Amish farming community were 23:21 measured using pedometers. As they have 23:24 done for centuries the Amish continue to 23:27 follow rules that ban the use of gasoline 23:29 powered transportation, electricity, 23:33 and other modern conveniences that we have 23:35 all come to rely on as a matter of normal 23:37 course. What did these researches find? 23:43 Out of the 96 Amish participants the men who 23:47 comprised about half the sample averaged 23:50 greater than 18,400 steps per day. 23:55 While the women averaged over 14,000 23:57 steps per day. Interestingly, the highest 24:02 one day step totals were 51,514 steps for 24:07 men and 41,176 steps for women. 24:13 Results from questionnaires completed 24:15 by this group indicated that the men spent 24:18 about 10 hours per week doing heavy work 24:21 like plowing, shoeing horses, tossing hay bales 24:25 and logging, while the women spent 24:27 approximately 3 ½ hours per week doing 24:30 heavy chores. The men also spent 55 hours 24:35 a week performing moderate physical activity 24:38 while the women reported 45 hours a week 24:41 of moderate physical activity like gardening 24:44 and doing laundry. In terms of obesity, 24:49 only four percent of the group was obese 24:51 and only 26 percent were overweight. 24:55 These percentages are substantially less 24:58 than the 15 percent rate of obesity and the 25:01 51 percent rate of overweightness reported 25:04 for Canadian adults and is much lower than 25:07 the 31 percent and 65 percent rates of obesity 25:11 and overweightness respectively that have 25:14 been measured in American adults. 25:18 As a final note the healthier body 25:20 composition reported for the Amish study 25:22 participants does not seem to be a function 25:25 of their diet, which is fairly similar to that 25:28 of the pre-World War II diet in the 25:31 United States and that it is quite high in fat 25:34 and refined sugar and includes meat, 25:38 potatoes, gravy, eggs, pies and cakes. 25:43 So, what should we make all of this. 25:47 It appears that the physical labor performed 25:50 by the Amish people as part of their normal 25:52 lifestyle clearly results in very large daily 25:56 step tallies, and a lower incidence of obesity 26:00 and overweightness compared to the general 26:02 population. So is the answer to go back to 26:07 an agrarian lifestyle, while a return to our 26:11 farming based society might yield a number of 26:13 improvements on our physical fitness and well 26:15 being. This isn't really an option in today's 26:18 world. What I do think we can glean from 26:21 this study is that all of us need to look for 26:24 opportunities, wherever and whenever they 26:27 exist each day to add physical activity to our 26:30 lives, and the use of a simple gadget like a 26:36 pedometer can be a first step so to speak, 26:40 towards motivating you to become more 26:42 active and physically fit. God wants you to 26:47 prosper and to be in the best of health, 26:51 so that you can meet the challenges of daily 26:53 living with passion and vigor. Just as a regular 26:57 program of physical activity and exercise can 27:00 strengthen and energize your body a daily 27:04 commitment to communing with God and reading 27:07 his word can strengthen your spirit and 27:11 cause you to be drawn closer to him. 27:15 Our bodies are wonderful and intricate 27:18 marvel of God's creation. And it is my prayer 27:22 that each of us will treat these spiritual 27:24 temples with care and keep them in good 27:27 working order by engaging in daily physical 27:31 activity. The focus of the first four programs 27:35 in this series has been to provide a general 27:38 introduction and overview about the importance 27:41 of physical activity to overall health. 27:44 And also to discuss some of the spiritual 27:46 dimensions of leading a physically active 27:48 lifestyle. In addition we've tried to talk about 27:51 some of the practical ways of increasing 27:53 your level of physical activity. 27:56 From here on out, I'm going to be looking at 27:58 how physical activity can impact chronic 28:00 health conditions like obesity, diabetes and 28:03 heart disease. So, I hope you'll watch these 28:07 upcoming programs until next time keep moving 28:11 step by step towards better health and fitness. |
Revised 2014-12-17