National Walking Day Celebrated at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai Health System hosts walking events on April 2 to raise awareness that just 30-minutes of brisk walking each day can help prevent heart disease.
The Mount Sinai Health System celebrated National Walking Day on Wednesday, April 2 to encourage its employees, patients, and people everywhere to lace up their sneakers, or comfortable shoes, and commit 30 minutes to walking each day. Everyone's efforts helped make greater strides in the fight against heart disease, the number one killer of Americans.
Across the Mount Sinai Health System several hospital campuses teamed up, hosting noontime walks in a local park or the hospital's neighborhood to raise awareness of the importance of daily physical activity, the health benefits of leading a heart-healthy lifestyle, and to set a strong example for others in our community to follow in their active footsteps.
Mount Sinai's three National Walking Day events occurred at The Mount Sinai Hospital with a 30-minute walk around the Central Park reservoir; at Mount Sinai Roosevelt for a 30-minute walk to and around the lower loop of Central Park; and at Mount Sinai Beth Israel with a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood. Plus, Mount Sinai Beth Israel held an additional 30-minute walk around the neighborhood at 12:30pm.
National Walking Day, sponsored by the American Heart Association (AHA), is held on the first Wednesday of each April. The AHA is calling on all Americans, communities, and workplaces like the Mount Sinai Health System to step up and help in the fight against heart disease with increased physical activity. As adults spend more time at work, they're spending less time moving their bodies and experts say that may double their risk of heart disease.
According to the heart experts at Mount Sinai, physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day needs to part of everyone's daily routine. Brisk walking for just a half hour can keep your heart healthy and prevent heart disease. Walking can help lower your risk of heart attacks, strokes, maintain your blood pressure, cholesterol, and also prevent diabetes and obesity.
"There was a song in the '60s called 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," says Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, Vice President of Cardiac Services for the Mount Sinai Health System." So are your sneakers! Lace them up and come out on National Walking Day to improve your heart health, set an example, and help inspire others."
Statistics show that one in two men and one in three women are at risk for heart disease, and research shows making proactive lifestyle changes can help to reverse that. From discovering a favorite walking route to incorporating heart-healthy recipes into everyday diets, the American Heart Association's My Heart. My Life.TM healthy living initiative helps individuals and families understand how to get active and eat well.
Doctors say making time for changes in your life could even help to prolong your life."Walking at lunchtime is an easy way to fit daily exercise into your busy life," says Merle Myerson, MD, Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at Mount Sinai Roosevelt."New Yorkers are lucky to live and work near Central Park and other outdoor areas which provide a perfect opportunity for exercise and to be heart-healthy."
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.
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