Dr Paul Stewart takes a leaf from his own book in recommending exercise to his patients and tries it out for himself. It has worked out well — except for the fact that he has come to the attention of the Gardaí.
I am not sure about a million miles, but my long journey began with a single step. My problem to begin with was that when I first started walking, I felt a little ridiculous going for a walk without any specific goal in mind — other than the walk itself. That mindset ended a long time ago as — come hail, rain or shine — since taking that very first step, I have developed the habit of walking for a half-hour every day.
Given the country we live in, it happens quite infrequently that I end up walking in the rain or hail, though recently I did have to contend with snow.
A positive attitude leads to positive results. Of course, though my mind rebelled against it, my body craved regular exercise. I know this because I have felt more comfortable in my body and mind since I started walking.
I don’t pump my arms and legs when I walk and people frequently overtake me, but, because I walk every day, I seem to be fitter than these others — who may feel it is a form of penance.
I also do 10 minutes of other exercises a day: I go up and down on my toes 50 times (which I can do on a break alone almost anywhere in a couple of minutes, helping to stimulate my mind to work if necessary); I do 20 squats, perhaps also at work; and 11 press-ups. At some stage in the evening, I lie on the floor and lift up and down a small chair 20 times with each arm in turn, if I haven’t had time to do the same with a closed sharps container at work, standing up. It’s handy. It works. Anybody has time for such a routine.
h4. Think too much
So, off I go on my walk and sometimes I think to myself. I have a friend who is a general practitioner in Donegal (who I really must contact). I remember him telling me about driving in his car to Donegal one day, when the recording of Paul Simon’s Think Too Much came on the radio. And he sang along to that stretch of song, which was repeated several times until he began wondering seriously if maybe he thought too much.
So in that vein, if I find I am thinking heavily (as might happen after a worrying day), I concentrate on the wind or sun on my face or the pad of my feet on the ground and appreciate the views. I feel my limbs moving. The sky is a wonderful thing, ever varying.
In the winter, as has just passed, I can look to the left on my walk and see the bare outline of a tree without leaves. It looks like the whorls of a thumbprint. It beats television any day. Halfway along my walk — which often ends near a Centra shop without my going into it — I might pause outside the antique shop or estate agents next door.
h4. Pauses
Or I might not pause; I might just spin on my heels and turn round. Like a jazz musician, I make a personal decision there and I’m free to do so. Some great pop songs have pauses with no music. When the music has been so good, the pause adds to the pleasure, as one waits with excitement for the music to continue.
I can think, for example, of Make Me Smile, by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, and The River of Dreams by Billy Joel. I carry no music with me, no iPod or headphones, but perhaps something apt such as Billy Joel’s You’re Only Human (Second Wind) courses through my head as I turn around.
h4. One drawback
An incident occurred one day that perhaps finally validated that initial doubt I had felt before taking my first walk. Halfway along one of my walks, having reached a corner and already by chance having taken something of a walk earlier that day, I spun on my heels just past the corner and turned for home early, having abruptly remembered I had extra things to do for the next day. A Garda car had obviously been proceeding towards the corner, because it turned shortly after me and stopped a little ahead.
The window rolled down. A head poking through asked what I had been doing. I explained. I received no dressing down whatsoever in reply, other than the comment that ‘it had seemed odd.’ That was the sum of it.
h4. Three stone
At the end of the walk is the welcome return, the sense of satisfaction for a measurable job completed, the entrance in winter to the warmth of a house and the feeling of the blood coursing through the body more vitally for some time afterwards. And all that without having broken a sweat.
Another benefit since I starting walking has been the loss of three stone in weight — the last time I bothered measuring, which was quite a while ago. Another habit that helped in this was a long-held one — to park, over time, in the car park at a further distance from my destination, in order to take more steps.
As for aerobic exercise, I tend to climb all steps two to three at a time and sometimes at a run, like an overgrown teenager. But what the hell — as long as there is no Garda car following me.
About Gary Culliton
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