Be Heart Healthy as a Family By Staying on the Move

We can learn a great deal from parts of the world where people are healthiest and live the longest.

In his bestselling book "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest," National Geographic fellow and explorer Dan Buettner identified five such regions. While these far-flung places, Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Nicoya, Cosa Rica, Ikaria, Greece and Loma Linda, California, are very different, with unique cultures and traditions, they all share some key things in common. For one thing, people in these regions very naturally stay on the move.

In addition, although diets vary widely across these regions, all are plant-centered, a fundamental building block for healthy metabolism. Still, those who live in Blue Zones, and in fact all of us, will waste a lot of good nutrition if we are not moving. Key nutrients float right through the bloodstream and are never picked up by cells in muscles that don't move.

The genius of the "natural movement" in Blue Zones is that it's simply built into what happens in everyday life. This bypasses what can be a formidable barrier: having to make decisions about whether or not to exercise and if so, when, how and where.

People who incorporate natural movement into their days stand up, sit down, bend over, walk, climb, lift, carry, push and pull. There is no special equipment and no requisite gym membership or skillset. Adding workouts or organized sports is terrific if this is what moves you and your family, but the unifying and empowering take-home from the Blue Zones is that we don't need a checklist in preparation for activity. We just need to get up and move.

[See: How to Get Your Fitness Groove Back.]

Ways to Move More Naturally

Making your move can be as simple as standing up from time to time and stretching, moving around the kitchen while preparing a meal, bending to pull laundry out of the washing machine and standing while folding it, running an item up or down stairs instead of leaving it by the staircase, or walking the trash outside. At work or at the mall, we can think out of the (elevator) box and take the stairs, or if there is a clear path, we can keep walking up or down the left side while riding an escalator.

Think about and celebrate the ways you move around your own home. Getting the whole family involved in cleaning up inside or lending a hand outside, say, in the garden is a good way to make any home a Blue Zone. Playing music can increase the pace and fun of shared movement even if you're just actively tidying up. Every minute counts towards the 60 minutes of activity kids are recommended to engage in daily for optimal health and weight.

Make it a game with your kids to find the stairwells when you are in a multistory building. Most buildings make the elevators much easier to find than the stairwells, but the stairs are there by law, and we can always take a few flights and catch the elevator on another floor.

Walking is a spectacular and effective fitness strategy and may be the most natural signature of a Blue Zone, and not just as a form of deliberate exercise but simply to get where people need to go. Are there places your family usually drives to that you could walk or bike to instead?

[See: 11 Ways Healthy Community Design is Working.]

It was recently shown, as part of the Women's Health Study, that just reaching the threshold of 4,400 steps in a day significantly benefited heart health. Lots of other studies have lauded the positive health impact of reaching 10,000 steps daily -- and maybe some days that is possible. But as Voltaire warned us, we'd best "not make perfect the enemy of good." Every step counts. Don't hesitate to walk because you don't have time to walk further.

Most American cities are built with cars in mind, not pedestrians or cyclists, but this is getting better. There is an active Blue Zone movement underway to build the sidewalks, bike lanes and green spaces in cities across America that will make moving easier for us all. Can your kids walk or bike safely to school in your community? Can you do the same to work? Or to the market? Of course, not as much can be carried home on a shopping trip without a car, but this is part of the winning Blue Zone strategy -- you will need to return to the store sooner than you might have otherwise done, and therein lies your next opportunity for a walk or ride.

A common and very reasonable argument against Blue Zone living is that there is simply not time to walk or cycle from point A to point B -- you need to get there and get on with things. But we might find a lot of time by cutting back on sedentary pastimes, like sitting in front of the TV or on social media. If and when you do drive, rather than circling in search of the closest parking spot, you might just park out further, and use the time saved to walk the extra distance. Also, consider taking a sedentary practice such as talking or texting, and do it standing up. Rise up!

Keep in mind that the cardiorespiratory fitness that results from a more active lifestyle contributes to more than stronger muscles and a healthy heart.

[See: 10 Fun, Fresh Ways to Work Out Together as a Family.]

Coupled with good nutrition, physical activity does wonders for insulin sensitivity and energy regulation in the body, supporting the powerhouses in our cells called mitochondria, which is like revving up our engine. This means the more we move, the easier it gets to move even more. Everything works better when insulin works better and our energy levels increase. Regular movement strengthens the immune system, and improves sleep quality and mental clarity, all of which help to extend and enrich a heart-healthy life.

Michele Mietus-Snyder, M.D., is a preventive cardiologist and a clinical researcher at Children's National Health System.

Dr. Mietus-Snyder guides academic-community collaborations, including a novel program called Kid POWER or KiPOW, which brings a mentored behavioral-change model into elementary and middle schools. She is a member of the American Heart Association Committee on Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in Youth and has participated in this forum by writing numerous scientific statements that relate to heart health.

Dr. Mietus-Snyder received her medical degree from the University of California - San Diego School of Medicine and completed training in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology at Boston Children's Hospital.