Walk of life

from Diabetes Wellness Spring 2024

YOU HELP ONE PERSON AND YOU SEE THE IMPACT

Weekly Hīkoi, Walky Talky, Steady Steppers, Buggy Walkers, Fast Footers, Silvarados, Net-Walkers. Walking groups have fast becoming a popular and useful way to find friends, get fit, and keep mobile.

If you do an internet search for walking groups, you will be met with a deluge of websites. There are literally hundreds around the motu, with groups catering for every walk of life – from suburban community walkers to marathon run and walk groups. There’s a cardiac care walking group, a lesbian overland and café club, and groups run by tramping clubs, Forest and Bird, and U3A. Want to bring your dog? There’s one for you too.

Every city council in Aotearoa lists an array of walking groups on their web pages, noting where and what time of day they meet, who it’s best suited for, a contact person, and a possible membership cost, if any.

WHY IN A GROUP?

Ten years ago, a study by the University of East Anglia studied 1843 people in 14 countries. They found that the risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, depression, and other lifethreatening conditions can be reduced through regular outdoor walking in groups. Findings also revealed that people who regularly walk in groups have lower blood pressure, resting heart rate, and total cholesterol.

The study’s participants had a mix of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s disease, as well as those with no health complications. A total of 74,000 hours of group walking was recorded.

The study showed that people who joined walking groups registered statistically significant falls in average blood pressure, resting heart rate, body fat, weight, and total cholesterol. They also experienced improvements in lung power, overall physical functioning, and general fitness, and they were less depressed than before they started walking regularly. Three-quarters of all participants stuck with the group, and there were few side effects, apart from a handful of falls on roots or wet ground and minor injuries such as calf strain.

You’re never too old to start. Last year, the American Heart Association reported that a study of people ages 70 and older found walking an additional 500 steps per day, or an additional 400 metres of walking, was associated with a 14% lower risk of heart disease, stroke, or heart failure.

STEP UP AND FORGE A CONNECTION

For most people, walking expends enough energy to be considered a moderate intensity activity. Walking is therefore a sensible starting point for people overcoming inactivity. While exercise-based physical activity interventions appear to have only modest or short-lived success, walking can appeal to the wider population as it does not require particular skill, equipment, or a competitive nature.

But, before adding walking to your daily exercise routine, do make sure your walking shoes fit properly and provide enough support and cushioning. When you’re ready, start slowly with a 10- to 15-minute walk and then gradually increase your time and distance. Stay hydrated and stretch your calves and hamstrings after every walk to help your muscles recover. Happy walking!

TICKING HEALTH BOXES

Kathy Smith joined a walking group 12 years ago when she and her husband made the move from Auckland to Alexandra. She wanted to meet other people in her new town, make friends, and also exercise, and the local walking group ticked all three boxes.

Kathy isn’t new to moving with a group of like-minded individuals. When she lived in Auckland, she and her husband both ran with harriers. She also taught tai chi and Steady as you Go, a fun and social strength and balance

exercise programme specifically designed for older people But it was a few years after shifting to the South Island that Kathy found herself in her doctor’s surgery, being diagnosed with type 1 at the atypical age of 69.

Now 73, she is witnessing the combined benefits of walking, diet alterations, and medications, with her HbA1c halving from 104 to 50.

Each Thursday afternoon, her women’s group, aged 55 to 85, meets at the local library and heads out somewhere different for an hour and a half, topping it all off

with a coffee or drink at a local cafe. The weather, no matter how cold, holds no-one back, although they do draw the line at walking when it’s snowing. Luckily, it doesn’t snow that often in the town centre of Alexandra, and being in the middle of dry Otago it doesn’t rain very much either.

Kathy says she tries to never miss a week because she gets so much out of the outings. ‘I definitely recommend walking with a group. There’s the friendship, the exercise, and the getting out of the house and off your butt.’

Living in Alexandra, the walkers are constantly surrounded by beautiful scenery. The famous Otago Rail Trail is only a stone’s throw away and is flat, wide, and easy, and anywhere by the Clyde River makes a stunning backdrop to any exercise regime.

NATURAL HISTORY WALKER

Praemi Perera has been walking with the Auckland Natural History Walking Club for 24 years. This walking group was established 99 years ago by Marguerite Crookes, a botanist at Auckland University. The Marguerite Track in the Waitakere Ranges is named after her. It was a work colleague who invited Praemi to join them, as she was going through a stressful period at her workplace. She has prediabetes and says walking with the club has helped her both physically and mentally. ‘The regular walks have helped me control my weight, improved my breathing, and improved muscle strength in my legs. And mentally, when you are on a bush walk, you have to concentrate and think about where your next step will be. Even on flat ground, there are trip (and slip) hazards.’

Praemi says the best things about walking with her club are getting to know new people and new places. ‘As we travel together to different places for our walks, we have time to talk to each other along the way and over lunch breaks.’

The club’s walks cover the wider Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Kirikiriroa Hamilton areas.

Their website lists all upcoming bi-monthly walks, where groups venture into the Waitakere and Hunua Ranges, as well as various suburbs, and maunga, such as Mt William and Mt Auckland.

Praemi, soon to be 79, credits the regularity of the walks, which has kept her learning about the native flora and fauna of our beautiful country. ‘This extra interest gets me out looking for specimens in locations I have visited before, at different times of the year.’

DOCTORS ORDERS

Regular walking is frequently the first thing written on a Green Prescription. At his practice in Cannons Creek, Porirua, Dr Bryan Betty often uses the Green Prescription system. This is an initiative administered by the Ministry of Health that allows patients to be prescribed a programme of physical activity that can be done at home and in their community. It includes a tool for encouraging modest but still beneficial activities, such as walking.

‘ “Do more exercise” is vague and generic, and can be easily dropped’, he says, ‘But writing a prescription to say “Do 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there” is a way of formalising the conversation. It’s like an agreement,’ he says.

BENEFITS OF WALKING

• Strengthen memory.

• Increase vitamin D levels.

• Gain social connections – meet new people and meet up with ones you already know.

• Gain motivation and purpose – the social support you gain from your walking buddies will help you stay accountable and motivated to reach your fitness goals. After all, it’s much harder to skip a workout when you know your friends are expecting you to be there.

• Shake up your daily routine or build walks into it.

• Connect with nature – getting out into nature boosts endorphins, making you feel better than not going out.

• Boost self-esteem and help keep depression and anxiety at bay. Achieve a regular sense of accomplishment.