Can You Keep Up With The Naturalist?

January is a great time to get up and get moving! At the Devil’s Lake State Park Nature Center, they are starting a new year-long challenge to motivate you to get out and get moving called Keeping up with the Naturalist!

Whether it’s dancing with the Ho-Chunk, leading school field trips up the bluffs, guiding kayak tours, or teaching archery, Sue, the park’s naturalist is always moving! A full season of park activities (plus being an avid hiker in her off time.) makes for a lot of steps! In fact, last year, Sue accumulated over 3 million steps! 

As part of the Wisconsin State Park’s OutWiGo initiative, Sue would like to challenge YOU to see how many steps you take over the next year. She’ll be posting her weekly updates at the Nature Center as well as sending out monthly emails so that you can see how well you keep up with the Naturalist. 

Keeping Up With the Naturalist is a great partner-program with the Wisconsin State Park’s OutWiGo initiative. OutWiGo is a statewide initiative encouraging everyone to improve their overall health and wellness by getting out and active in the outdoors.

If you are interested in joining the challenge, send your name to Sue ([email protected]) or stop in the Nature Center. At the end of the year, she will draw a couple of names for fun prizes! 

January Steps: 
From January 1 – January 7 Sue has done 88,899 steps.

How Many Steps is Right For You?

How many steps should we be taking to stay healthy? Dr. I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a researcher on physical activity look at the basis for 10,000 steps and its validity. Dr. Lee discovered that the origins of the number go back to 1965, when a Japanese company made a device named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” “The name was a marketing tool,” she says. But since the figure has become so ingrained in our health consciousness (it’s often the default setting in fitness trackers). From – 10,000 steps a day — or fewer? – Harvard Health Blog
 

So what is a healthy number of steps? Dr. Lee’s study found, for women, walking 4,000 steps per day increased their longevity. Dr. Lee’s study also draws some bigger-picture findings. Most people who are sedentary average about 2,000 steps per day. By adding 2,000 more daily steps so that you average at least 4,400 daily steps you will increase your longevity. The study showed that you don’t need to do all these steps all at once. Walking more throughout the day was just as effective.

Want to know more?
Here’s a few articles to check out:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/05/10000-steps-rule/590785/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/10000-steps-a-day-or-fewer-2019071117305

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/29/727943418/do-you-really-need-10-000-steps-per-day