Are you walking enough? I mean, are you getting out there and walking enough? That's what I want to know. I really want to know if you're doing that because I haven't been, but now I am.
I used to walk a lot. I was everywhere doing everything with walking. And then as I got older, I just started slowing it down. Well, guess what?
We're going to talk about the health benefits of walking today. Hello, and welcome to the Daily Grateful. My name is Michael Gross, and I'm here to talk about being grateful for walking. I got a friend.
I'm not going to name him, but he's been my friend for damn near 50 years. I used to ride motorcycles, you know, when he was just, oh, got we used to swim. I'll super, he stopped walking 10 years ago. You know, I don't know why.
He just decided he was going to sit on his ass, pardon me, in front of the TV. And he now, you know, he's married, beautiful wife, wonderful girl. Gets out and she mows, he won't, he won't mow the lawn. He sits on his butt and I tell you what, he now has to use a cane to get up and go to the bathroom.
That's how bad that is. And if he would just start walking, you know, and I keep yelling at him about it. And then I'm one to talk because I noticed because I have electronic equipment that I carry with me. They keep track of this sort of thing.
And I was a fanatic about walking. I was, I wanted to make sure I got in my steps every day. And I used to, I had a Fitbit that I used to wear. And by the way, Fitbits are good unless you're going to Sam's Club and you're pushing a cart, it doesn't work then.
Or if you're going to the grocery store, you're pushing a cart, doesn't work. Or if you're taking your grandchildren for a walk on a stroller, it doesn't work. But on my cell phone, on my iPhone, there's a tracker in there and it's in my pocket. Every step I take, it just tells me where they are.
And let's see, I'm just doing this right now live. Where am I? The thing is called Pacer. And right now I'm at 2800 steps.
So I got more work to do today because I like to, you know, I used to do five without quenching. Now that's really difficult and I'm working to get back up to five. But right now my daily goal is 3000 steps. And then I will take it up to 3500 steps.
And it just, it does a lot for you. It, one of the things my doctor told me, it reduces the risk of chronic disease. It boosts your mental health. I can tell you that it boosts my mental health wonderfully.
I don't, you know, it just does. I wake up. I'm in a crappy ass mood. I will walk around the cul-de-sac and I'm feeling better all the way around.
They say it improves sleep. I'm still waiting for that, but I'm not walking enough. It does increase my energy. The more I walk, the more I want to do other things.
You know, so that is good. They say that it supports weight loss. Ah, yeah, because it's exercise. I saw some woman on the tickety talk the other day saying that walking is not exercise.
Walking is exercise. My doctor said, no, you're moving your arms, you're moving your legs, you're moving your core, you're moving all of this stuff. And walking is what gets you to that. I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who is 83 years old.
His name is Truman Burst. Guys, as physically fit as they can be. And he gets up and he walks every day. Gets up in the morning and he takes a long, long, long walk and then he comes back and he, you know, he's constantly going.
So yeah, it definitely, you know, definitely helps him. So, you know, they say it improves. They also say it strengthens your bones because it's a weight bearing exercise. So it's going to make your bones healthier and it's going to make your cardiovascular health better.
You know, they say that, you know, my doctor says that the walkers don't get cancer that much. And you know, my uncle George lived into his 80s and he was a walker. He lived in a mobile home park and he used to every day he would take his dogs out for walks all over that mobile home park. And he walked a lot.
Never got cancer, died of old age. You know, God bless him. Had hard problems, but not until he didn't have hard problems until he was 79 years of age and then all of a sudden out of nowhere. And I still wonder about that.
I still, you know, he had bypass surgery. No, it was never the same after that. I think he was better before. I don't know.
I'm pisses me off that he was my favorite uncle, best guy in the world. Walking improves your thought patterns, you know, your cognitive function. If you're walking a lot, you're thinking better and it increases productivity. All of these things are true.
You know, all of these things are true. So if you're not walking, I'm going to encourage you to go out, get off your butt and take a walk, take a short walk to start with and then build yourself up because the more I walk, the more energy I have and the better I feel and the better I feel, the happier I am. And the happier I am, I don't know. It's just what's life if you're not happy.
You know, what is life if you're not happy? So walk and become happy. We'll see you tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow is talk about podcasting day.
Got something planned for that. We'll see you then.