Enjoy the beauty of a slow, simple walk once a day if you haven’t discovered this great activity already.Aiming for a mile a day is a great way to incorporate more walking into your daily routine and to enjoy the benefits of being active. Fresh air and sunshine (with proper social distance) are an excellent way to build your immune system - especially now. So put down your work, close your zoom meeting, and take 30 minutes to do something good for yourself. Many of the parks and trails on the list have also been beautified by donations through Partners for Parks. Try TrailLink, AllTrails, or Fitt for starters. If you need ideas beyond your own neighborhood, several websites will give you ideas for great places to walk. Other sites along greenways are enhanced by landscaping and features through Partners for Parks’ Memorial Bricks, Trees, and Benches Program, or other donations facilitated by Partners for Parks. What started as the Spirit of Mecklenburg Fund through Partners for Parks has now organized under its own organization as the Trail of History in Midtown, according to Al Brown, Treasurer of Partners for Parks. Little Sugar Creek, McAlpine Creek, Mallard Creek, and Four Mile Creek Greenways are also popular.įor a scenic, urban walk, try Little Sugar Creek Greenway in Midtown Charlotte. Did you know it is one example of the many public-private partnerships facilitated by Partners for Parks? While Mecklenburg County built the greenway, it was donations pulled together with Partners for Parks that made it the scenic route it is today. Francis Beatty Park, or Ribbonwalk, to name a few. In fact, several parks are known for their walkable trails - try Reedy Creek Nature Preserve, Freedom Park, Col. Mecklenburg County has more than 250 miles of trails and greenways you can visit. If your neighborhood is short on sidewalks and the streets are too busy, you’re in luck. Heck, that makes it a great way to exercise as a family! In children, it’s a great way to relieve anxiety and depression. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities (2015) notes that regular physical activity helps prevent risk factors such as high blood pressure and weight gain, and protects against chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and depression. A 200-pound person can burn 125 calories. And Harvard also says someone who is 140 – 160 pounds can burn 100 calories per mile this way. And pavement is usually FREE and easily accessible. No gym memberships that you can’t (or don’t want to) use right now. You heard us - you don’t need to run to get the benefits of exercise (in case your knees aren’t a fan of running). If you do the math, that’s about 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. And it doesn’t require a LOT of walking, either - just 5-6 miles per week, at a casual pace of 2 mph. Sure walking is great exercise, but here’s proof of how great it is: Multiple studies, according to Harvard Health, found that walking can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by 31%, and the risk of dying by 32%. (We’re sure that’s one reason for the popularity of Open Streets 704, right?)īut there are more benefits than that. (Do you know the name of every neighbor’s dog yet?) There is a certain peace to slowing down and viewing the world by foot at street level. Maybe we’ve even explored parts of our neighborhood we’ve been too busy to walk through before or waved to neighbors we never knew we had. We go through our day, click off things we have to do tomorrow, or just listen to birds chirp. I mean, it’s easy - a good pair of walking shoes and a sidewalk are all you need, right? Of course, you want to be sure to social distance and wear a mask, depending on, depending on how crowded your favorite route is.īut a lot of us have learned something unexpected from our walks: It’s okay to be alone with our thoughts. If you’re like a lot of us, the stay-at-home restrictions made us really gravitate towards the few things we actually COULD do - and daily walks became a part of a lot of families’ schedules.
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