me time Enjoying natures gym Whether its a team sport with friends or a solitary walk through the fields, now is the time to make the most of the great outdoors WORDS: SARAH JUGGINS ay features Arthritis Cares awareness week, which runs from 18-24 May, with our Keeping Moving campaign at the forefront of our activities. So with warmer weather ahead, lets get outside and enjoy all the physical and mental health benefits that activity can offer. Fitness centres, swimming pools and health clubs are brilliant for working out during the winter, but when the sun is shining its time to take advantage of the great outdoors. Not only is exercise good for you physically, but there is a body of evidence that suggests getting a regular dose of vitamin D from the suns rays will improve your mental health as well. The Institute of Medicine (IOM)has pointed to strong scientific evidence that vitamin D improves bone health, while preliminary research suggests that it may also play a part in controlling inflammation involved in rheumatoid arthritis, although there is less conclusive evidence for this. Meanwhile, online health journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) has linked higher vitamin D levels from exposure to sunlight with the production of the mood enhancer serotonin. While EHP warns of the dangers of excessive exposure to sunlight, it seems some could improve your mood. So, slip on your trainers, but remember to slap on your sunscreen and have a go at some of these activities. FIFA looks at walking football WALKACTIVE Take a stroll Walking is the easiest and cheapest activity you can do. A 20-minute stroll every day could have a number of health benefits. Dr Craig Williams, a sports science lecturer at the University of Exeter, says walking is an underrated activity. It improves muscle endurance and strength in the lower body; it is good for the bones and improves the cardiovascular system. It also allows you to explore your neighbourhood and see it through fresh eyes. You can arrange to walk with friends and add a coffee break to your route, or combine the activity with your chores walk to get a newspaper or post a letter. Getting off the bus or train one stop early means you can get a walk in before work and arrive with the blood pumping around your body. If you want to increase the challenge, consider joining a Nordic walking group. This gives participants an upper-body workout as well. Walkers hold two poles, specially constructed for the activity, which take some weight off the knees and lower body joints, and make you walk with your shoulders and upper body wellbalanced. The Nordic Walking UK website stresses that the activity is no more difficult than ordinary walking it just uses a wider range of muscles. Play walking football For something out of the ordinary, have a go at walking football. This a great way to get involved in a team sport and experience the thrill of competition as well as the enjoyment of socialising with a new set of friends and it will help to improve your coordination and balance. Youll find that you are changing direction and pace, which will give your leg muscles and core a workout. Designed as a means of tackling inactivity and social isolation, the sport is as competitive as the beautiful game, but played at walking pace. Les Turner, of the Blackpool Senior Seasiders team, is a former semi-pro footballer who thought his playing days were over until he discovered walking football. Our competitive streak is still alive and kicking, even though our legs dont move as well as they used to, he says. Peter Reddy, a researcher into chronic conditions at Aston University, says: In walking football, the level of stress and exertion is relatively low, with a continuous distracting thought, whereas running, cycling or going to the gym focuses attention on ones own body. Certainly, the players who now compete at the 300 walking football venues across the UK are feeling the benefits. Find a team near you at www.walkingfootballunited.co.uk Get creative All you need for an effective workout is a space in which to move. This might be a local park, a wooded area, a beach, or your own back garden. You can design an exercise circuit that you do regularly, or devise some new activities every time you step outside your door. Here are a few ideas: n Step over a log or large stone this will work your lower limbs and hip flexors. To increase the activity, jump over the obstacle; to make it easier, just lift alternate feet to tap the top of the obstacle. n Reach up and touch an overhead branch or bar this action will stretch your back muscles and work your shoulder muscles. To make this more challenging, bend and touch the ground between each reach. To simplify, reach with one arm at a time. n Walk briskly or jog over a short distance use trees, bushes, rocks or any definable object to help change your pace. Walk slowly to your first marker, walk more briskly to the next, and then go as fast as you feel you can to the next. Repeat this for a set number of times. To make this more challenging, extend the distance between markers or increase your speed. To make it easier, slow things down or reduce the distance. Joanna Hall talks about Walkactive FIND OUT MORE Download our booklet on exercise at www. arthritiscare.org.uk/ PublicationsandResources If you thought walking was simply a question of putting one foot in front of the other, then Joanna Hall has news for you. The sports scientist and diet and movement specialist is keen to get across the message that using the correct walking technique can help you to lose weight, tone muscles and walk pain-free. Her Walkactive technique has been endorsed by South Bank Universitys sports performance laboratory as being more effective than normal walking. Joanna says: While we acknowledge that everyone is different, our clients have experienced wonderful benefits from the Walkactive technique from coming off antidepressant medication, joint-pain relief, reduction in cholesterol and diabetes risk, and lowered blood pressure to significant weight loss, greater cardiovascular stamina and directly improving the quality of their life with better sleep and improved self-confidence. Walkactive teaches you how to move correctly and efficiently, improving posture and helping to realign muscles. Joanna says that many people have developed bad habits when they walk, which can lead to injury and long-term damage to muscles. Reviewing one of the Walkactive camps, a participant said: It was, unexpectedly, a moving experience. When a woman with severe mobility issues managed a steep 11km climb, everyone cheered her over the line, many of us dancing, many in tears. And we were all willing along another young woman who was only just clear of a rare form of cancer when she managed to get her legs to work.
