East Dean with Friston Parish Magazine May 2020 online edition

start point avoiding popular car parks near
busy locations. Park safely so as not to
obstruct the roadway.
Get ready before we set off … Be prepared
for the weather. Gloves can be useful even if
not warranted by the weather. Before
starting, set the body and free up the mind
by:
standing tall taking care not to lean back
looking straight ahead
relaxing shoulders, arms and hands.
Use our whole body …
Part of natural walking is rotation, or
twisting, of the whole upper body from side
to side to make the arms swing loosely. By
engaging upper body effort, more muscles
are being recruited to make the body walk.
The more muscles involved, the better the
exercise.
Learn what MORE THAN two metres
looks like & plan … Grab a tape measure,
mark it out the ground and count how many
of our normal strides it takes to cover. If it
takes us three normal strides to cover two
metres, then three exercising strides will do
the job!
Look ahead and plan in advance:
is the way ahead more than two metres
wide? More than tywo metres is needed to
stay two metres apart;
look ahead for passing places. Make eye
contact with whoever is approaching and
give them warning whether we’ll be moving
out to the left or right;
if we can’t back track to allow the other
party to pass, politely ask them to do so; if
there’s a stile/gate, gloves will prevent skin
contact to pass through/over.
Keep the upper body in charge to reach
the appropriate aerobic level of exercise
… over a few strides, make upper body
rotation a fuller movement;
imagine, or find, a route ahead that is a long,
gentle uphill slope suitable to our health and
fitness needs;
being stronger with the upper body twist
will help us pick the legs up and stride out;
monitor our physiological reaction to
increased physical effort through the
standard indicators: breathing harder, feeling
warmer, starting to sweat but not so out of
breath that it’s no longer possible to talk
with a real or imaginary companion;
pause, or slow down, at the end of that
aerobic effort for our breathing rate to
recover.
Gradually, go for longer distances/times.
Follow government guidelines to exercise
in safety!
Peter Williamson - BA Nursing, Masters in
Public Health (MPH)
(This article contains edited abstracts from
two web post guides available at
http://nordicwalkingforhealth.co.uk/)
Silver Lining
There has to be something good to come
from the COVID-19 lockdown - and there
is!
We are breathing cleaner air… no pollution
from aircraft and much reduced road traffic
have contributed to a great reduction in air
pollution. In Southampton the reduction is
by 45%. Now that is massive!
We have all had to think differently during
the last couple of months, questioning past
practices and recognising how those things
we take for granted have been adversely
affecting our wonderful planet.
Perhaps now is the time to convince
everybody that burning rubbish, household
and garden waste, along with fires for
domestic heating, is also polluting the air
that we breathe. We are all issued with
recycling, landfill and garden waste bins.
Therefore surely there is no need for any of
us to light a fire?
Take a moment to step outside to breath in
the fresh air - wonderful.
Terry Hills