The Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County recently celebrated 20 years of bringing together individuals and organizations to improve the health of Carroll residents.
By joining efforts with local groups, we can begin to address key health issues, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. One essential part of the puzzle to good health is staying physically active. Until recently, most people focused on the disease prevention benefits of staying active. However, there are many other potential health promotion benefits that are now being studied, including decreased anxiety, improved cognitive function, improved balance and a lower risk of falls, and even getting a better night’s sleep.
The most recent physical activity guidelines for Americans issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continues to recommend that adults and children engage in aerobic activities throughout the week as their abilities allow, along with muscle-strengthening activities. However, these new guidelines eliminate the previous guidance that physical activity must occur in bouts of 10 minutes — instead, the new guidelines emphasize that any amount of physical activity has health benefits. There is no reason to get overwhelmed by making huge changes to your lifestyle immediately. On those days when we can’t do a full workout, any type of movement will help toward meeting your goals.
The Partnership Leadership Teams work on a variety of activities to help get us moving, and we’d like to invite you to take part in these activities. We recently launched a new program as part of The Partnership’s ongoing Walk Carroll initiative. Walk Carroll is a long-term walking and exercise program to encourage regular, accessible physical activity. In May, we held a Walk & Talk series with weekly walks led by a health professional allowing time to chat informally while enjoying some physical activity at a local park. Walk leaders included a physician, a personal trainer, a diabetes educator and a nutritionist.
While encouraging healthy behaviors is a primary goal of our programs, we know that to make changes in behavior that will “stick,” we need to help people figure out how to make these activities a regular part of the day. We hope you will take advantage of the programs offered by us or by our many partners to see what works best for you!
You can find more information about Walk Carroll and other programs by visiting HealthyCarroll.org.
Dorothy Fox is the Executive Director and C.E.O. of The Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County. She can be reached at ThePartnership@HealthyCarroll.org.