LSU Health New Orleans Wellness Krewe Invites Patients to Walk Their Way to Wellness

If you haven’t blown your New Year’s resolution to get fit yet, some of you may be just about to throw in the towel. Don’t! The Wellness Krewe at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine is offering an opportunity to give your flagging commitment a big boost. And you can seriously multiply the health benefits of this one exercise.

Under the direction of Dr. Lauren Davis, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, LSU Health New Orleans Wellness Krewe is hosting its first Wellness Walk on February 16, 2019, at City Park. Though designed for LSU Healthcare Network patients, friends and relatives are also welcome. If you’d like to participate in the free event, meet at the New Orleans Museum of Art at 1:00 p.m.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• A free light snack and water at the beginning of the walk

• The opportunity to walk with partners and benefit from mutual support

• A chance to interact with your doctors and ask questions during the walk

• Low-impact exercise in the scenic fresh air

• Health information

• Exercise and lifestyle tips

Participants will walk three-quarters of a mile along Zemurray Trail, which rings Big Lake. This beautiful setting features a fountain that shoots water 40 feet in the air, as well as swans, ducks and brown pelicans. Singing Oak, adjacent to the lake, “sings” via an installation of wind chimes.

“The LSU Health New Orleans Wellness Krewe is excited to host the first ever LSU Health New Orleans Wellness Walk,” says Dr. Davis. “The focus of the walk is to encourage a lifestyle of wellness and strengthen the doctor/patient relationship by offering periodic doctor-led walks for our patients. The walks will be followed by a brief discussion on healthy living. We realize that healthy living must not only be taught but also demonstrated. A team-approach between doctors and their patients is the key to affecting meaningful lifestyle change.”

The US Physical Activity Guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate, aerobic physical activity per week for adults. Walking is an ideal choice. It’s free, doesn’t require special equipment or athletic prowess and can be done almost anywhere. Walking has other benefits, too, some that may surprise you.

The National Library of Medicine says that exercise like walking may help flush bacteria out of lungs and airways, as well as slow the release of stress hormones associated with disease.

A Harvard study found that walking about an hour a day significantly decreased the activity of obesity-promoting genes.

An American Cancer Society study reported that at least seven hours of walking per week reduced menopausal women’s risk of developing breast cancer by 14%. The result was the same whether or not the women were overweight.

A study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy reported that a high-intensity walking protocol in older adults with stable rheumatoid arthritis was associated with reduced disease activity, as well as reduced infection risk and inflammatory potential.

So lace up your shoes and head on over to City Park February 16, to join members of your health care team and new friends in walking your way to wellness.

“The wellness committee formed as an initiative from the Dean of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine,” adds Davis. “This walk is one of many initiatives already in place to promote a culture of wellness on our campus and ultimately in our local community.”