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Showing posts from June, 2018

Zone for the walk of life

I tried to walk across a street, in a small town once. There was so much traffic, I waited so long some friends drove by and asked if my car broke down. I said “no, you’ve never seen anyone walk across the street before have you?” We don’t walk enough in America. Our high tech fitness trackers tell us 5,900 steps a day. 10,000 is recommended for health. I’m a medical data scientist, I work on high tech medicine. But a simple thing like walking is healthy. Walking regularly reduces sick days, boosts immunity, and reduces death. My grandmother walked to the grocery store several times a week and lived to 94. She walked because she had safe, pleasant, sidewalks and places to walk to, weaving walking into the fabric of life. Few neighborhoods have places to walk to because of single use zoning. By design our homes, offices, and shopping are all separated and connected by traffic clogged roads - weaving sitting in traffic into the fabric of our lives. We don’t walk more because it’s