Nearly three years ago, virtual teacher Jessica Miller learned a life-changing lesson.
The Connecticut resident was unaware that her sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy habits were conspiring against her. A routine physical gave her the wake-up call she needed.
“Nothing was good. My cholesterol was terrible,” the 47-year-old recalled to TODAY.com this week. “My blood pressure was terrible. I needed to lose some weight.”
Miller’s doctor suggested exercise and blood pressure and cholesterol pills as two ways to improve her overall health, but Miller admitted that she doesn’t often remember to take her medications. She tried walking instead.
Miller’s daily step count had been shockingly low up until that point — “just enough to go from my desk to the coffee maker,” she confided to TODAY.com.
Determined to make a difference, she worked her way up from 10-minute walks to 20, eventually averaging a daily step count of 10,000 or more.
Experts agree that walking is as simple as it is beneficial. Mayo Clinic cardiologist Francisco López-Jiménez recently told Vogue.com, “Walking is one of the easiest, most affordable and most effective types of physical activity people can do.”
Effective indeed, as within six months, Miller not only lost 25 pounds, but saw significant drops in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
“I know it helped me,” she told TODAY.com. “I also try to eat better, but I like to eat. Mostly, it’s the walk.”
Recent research found that walking 5,000 steps three times a week for two years can add three years to a person’s life expectancy and reduce health care costs by up to 13%.
Miller usually gets up around 5 a.m., walking outside when possible and inside the mall when winter temperatures drop.
She uses audiobooks to keep her motivated, limiting her listening to the time she spends walking, “If I want to hear what happens in the book, I have to walk to hear it.”
Her get-up-and-step routine is in step with expert recommendations for when to walk.
“If we can choose, sunrise and sunset have some additional benefits,” biologist Tamara Pazos told Vogue. “This will match the circadian rhythms in the rest of the body’s organs. Our entire body works in a rhythmic way according to our routine, keeping us active during the daytime hours and relaxing to allow for a good night’s rest.”
Miller has found success by replacing driving with walking whenever he can.
“I used to think, ‘I’m not walking anywhere, this is weird. I don’t want anyone to see me walking. They’ll think I can’t drive or something,” she told TODAY.com. “Now I try to do it and if I walk somewhere, I have to walk home. It forces me to walk more.”
While her step count has skyrocketed, her trips to the coffee maker have decreased. A former 20-cup-a-day drinker, Miller has gradually cut back to two cups by hydrating with a water bottle before her first cup and incorporating straight coffee.
Miller says that walking helped her get off the caffeine crutch, “Exercise makes me feel better about myself and improves my mood, which makes me not want to eat junk food or drink coffee.”
In addition to reducing her caffeine consumption, Miller eliminated soda and alcohol, the latter of which was negatively affecting her sleep cycle.
While the physical benefits of exercise have been significant, Miller says it’s her mental health that has seen the most noticeable improvement.
