| Walk With the Doc The Amazing Exercise Pill? If exercise could be packaged as a pill it would be the most amazing wonder drug of the 20th century. Warnings on the package would strongly advise against taking more than the recommended dose. A moderate dose would provide the benefit of walking briskly, at 3 to 4 miles per hour or bicycling at 6-8 miles per hour. Until that magic pill is invented, anything that gets your heart rate somewhere between 110 and 140 beats per minute is usually enough. Even mowing the lawn or walking your dog might qualify. While running marathons, participating in cross-fit classes and other endurance exercises may be fun, they inevitably take their toll. Regular moderate exercise provides the most health benefits. There is a significant body of evidence behind the recommendation for regular moderate exercise. To learn more click here. Join me for my next morning walk. It’s medicine for the body and the soul. Nancy Neighbors, MD Huntsville, Alabama Can’t Sleep? Perhaps you’ve bought a new mattress; tried warm milk and still aren’t getting enough sleep. If this sounds like your life, you aren’ t alone. Almost a-third of adults complain that they can’t fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up too early in the morning. The cumulative effects of sleep deprivation are not to be taken lightly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that insufficient sleep is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Aside from these issues, insufficient sleep is often also responsible for motor vehicle crashes and machinery-related injuries causing substantial disability. Having trouble getting a good night’s sleep? Perhaps we need to talk. Quotes “Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.” - Elizabeth von Arnim "When I am traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that ideas flow best and most abundantly." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “If you seek creative ideas go walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” - Raymond I. Myers |