And I would walk 10,000 steps

I seem to have more energy. Energy is not my strong point. Yes, I can keep myself going if I have to but much of the time I long to sleep, an occupation often denied the parent with three children, a busy lifestyle and a seemingly endless amount of housework to undertake. For the last couple of days, however, I have felt better. Of course, two days out of a life-time is not particularly significant if you want to consider statistics, but I do wonder if it has anything to do with the exercise I am now taking. For the past 17 days I have been without a car. I have had the odd lift and I have taken a few buses, but on the whole I have walked, generally about 40 minutes to an hour a day. And consider what I have done since Friday…

This will be as nothing to the super-active among you, but on Friday I walked up and down to Coco’s school twice (40-50 minutes in all), I then hacked branches off a vicious spiky bush on the edge of our garden, cleared brambles, hauled this all to the skip we have hired in one of my regular and always unsuccessful attempts to declutter, bounced on the trampoline with the kids (note to self: remember those pelvic floor exercises), cooked a meal and hiked back up the hill to a friend’s house so that she and I could go to a jazz concert. Yesterday I walked for another 40 minutes or so, bounced once again on the trampoline and played skittles (badly) at the local community hall. Today I’ve walked, hauled more spiky plant around, cleaned the kitchen, cooked a couple of meals without moaning (meals which I haven’t burned moreover, my culinary skills being second to, er, most) and am still feeling active. I haven’t felt this good in an age, probably not since the age that preceded children.

Could there be a link? Obviously the Ramblers Association to whom I turned for information on walking (www.ramblers.org.uk) have a vested interest in promoting walking as a GOOD THING, but their claims seem to be backed up by research, that walking can just 30 minutes a day can make a difference to the way we feel, and not just in aching legs (believe me, I’ve felt those). The NHS talks about walking 10,000 steps a day – about eight km or five miles – as a way to keep our hearts healthy and reduce our body fat, and then there are all the other benefits  - lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, higher bone density, improved moods, reduced risk of colon cancer, reduced risk of diabetes (non-insulin dependant variety), countering the effects of osteoarthritis, and of course, the one that worries most of us, reduced body weight.

Lecture over. It’s working for me.You can laugh at me when I am moaning and groaning next week. One thing though, walking can be dangerous. Drivers of large vehicles do not necessarily accept that pedestrians have a right to the pavement. Vast lorries with giant diggers on their backs may be what small children dream of driving, but they are downright scary, especially when they are hooting at a mother and child to move off the pavement (into what? I ask you) so that they can get past and speed 20 or so yards to the traffic lights up ahead. 

All this walking hasn’t stopped me getting on my high horse.