NAPSI—According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in order to preserve and improve your health, you need to do two types of physical activity each week—aerobic and muscle-strengthening.
What You Can Do
Most adults need at least:
• 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as brisk walking) every week
• muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)
• 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (that is, jogging or running) every week.
If 150 minutes a week sounds like a lot of time, you might be glad to learn that you don’t have to do it all at once. Not only is it best to spread your activity out during the week, you can break it up into smaller chunks of time during the day. Just be sure you’re doing your activity at a moderate or vigorous effort for at least 10 minutes at a time. Try going for a 10-minute brisk walk, three times a day, five days a week.
What Others Are Doing
Many people are getting an assist in all this from what may seem to some to be a surprising source. To help meet the need for better health education, Chrysler Group has gotten together with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) to increase awareness about health and wellness disparities in minority communities and to promote achievable strategies that members of those communities can pursue to improve their health.
We all know about Chrysler Group’s prowess as an auto manufacturer. What we may not know is that the company has been a leader in bringing innovative health programs to its employees and their families in order to improve their overall health and to reduce costs. The carmaker has received several awards from the National Business Group on Health for the strength and relevance of its health and wellness efforts. In fact, the company’s headquarters complex in Auburn Hills, Mich., offers employees many wellness amenities such as a fully equipped fitness center, an on-site pharmacy and health care offices, all within an environment that offers many recreational opportunities, such as walking trails, baseball fields and volleyball courts. Now, the goal is to take the company’s passion for health and wellness beyond the corporate walls, into the communities that could benefit most. The car company says it focused its message to working journalists because as leaders in their communities, they are in a unique position to educate people about health and wellness best practices.
The program is called Get Moving with Chrysler Group and has two parts, a walking challenge and an interactive “health and wellness experience” featured at the national conventions this past summer, touching more than 3,000 journalists.
During the walking challenges, several local chapters of the NABJ and NAHJ engaged in spirited competitions, as a way to earn dollars for their scholarship funds for aspiring journalists.
So can a company that makes cars come up with a way to encourage people to get out and walk? One such company has and the results are good for our health.
