National Walking Day is April 4

The American Heart Association and Grappone Automotive are calling on all New Hampshire residents to walk for 30 minutes on Wednesday, April 4 – National Walking Day. Residents are encouraged to walk at work, at home or visit many regional walking paths, parks and other walker-friendly sites to celebrate Spring and walk for their hearts. In celebration of National Walking Day, Grappone Automotive will host a walking event at Steeplegate Mall in Concord.

The walking event, which will be held on April 4 from 5:30 – 7 p.m. will include healthy vendors and opportunities to enter raffles for a $100 mall gift card and $150 Grappone Automotive gift card. Grappone encourages everyone including children, adults, families and employers to attend the event and make it their mission to live a heart healthy life.

National Walking Day is part of the American Heart Association’s national healthy living initiative, My Heart. My Life. which offers a simple set of solutions that focus on improving nutrition, physical activity and children’s health. The American Heart Association is working to help individuals and families understand how to make incremental changes for a substantial long-term health impact.

National Walking Day encourages walking as the exercise of choice because it has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity. Physical inactivity doubles the risk of heart disease, our nation’s No. 1 killer. The American Heart Association encourages employees to walk at work to adopt a heart-healthy work style. Studies show that some adults may gain as many as two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular, vigorous physical activity.

A person is 1.5 to 2.4 times more likely to have coronary heart disease if he or she is inactive, but walking vigorously for 30 minutes a day can help reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly – that’s about 20 minutes every day.

The American Heart Association’s My Heart. My Life. program offers key resources to help companies and individuals get started with a walking program at startwalkingnow.org.