By Jonathan Gramling

       Good health is a lifestyle commitment. It isn’t one thing or another thing that leads to good health; it is a combination of activities and behaviors that
lead to good health over a period of time, a life time. The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Second Annual Walk It Out has that philosophy in mind. Aided by
its partners — Group Health Cooperative, State Farm Insurance and the UW Center for Women’s Health Research — the AKAs hosted a plethora of fun,
health-related activities at Warner Park on July 25 that could be the start of something healthy in the lives of those who attended.
       After several warm-up exercises at the Warner Park Shelter, about 70 walkers took a scenic two-mile walk around Warner Park. Then it was off to the
Warner Park Community Center for lunch and several demonstrations and classes including a cooking demonstration by Yvonne Greer, a nutrition
consultant.
       Dr. Thomas Schlenker, the head of the Public Health Department of Madison/Dane County gave a few remarks. Schlenker is glad to live in a
community that is so health conscious as reflected in the fact that babies in Dane County have better survival rates than babies in the country as a whole.
In his comments, he particularly emphasized the importance of nutrition.
       “The one point I would like to emphasize is the more you can eat at home and the more you cook your own food, the better off you are going to be
even though it’s real easy to stop at some fast food place,” Schlenker said. “You’re much better off and your family will be much better off when you eat at
home.”
       Of course, exercise was right up there in Schlenker’s book. “Find out what works for you and try to exercise every single day even if it is only just a little
bit,” he said.
       Staff of Group Health Cooperative also offered classes in pilates, mindful meditation, yoga and chair massages. Each of these forms of medicine are
preventative measures that allow one to relieve physical stress, which can complicate and intensify existing health problems that An individual may
experience.
       While these therapies are good, there are also other measures that an individual can include in their routines to regularly reduce stress.
Gale Johnson, director of the Wisconsin Well Woman Program, has found has found that hobbies allow her to reduce her overall stress levels. “There
should be some things in life that we do just because we enjoy them and they help us to relax,” Johnson said. “That’s why I ask people whether or not they
have a hobby. I realize that when I am participating in one of my hobbies, I am really relaxed. I was telling a group yesterday that one of the things that I
do is refinish furniture. I do this just for me. I don’t do it to make money. I don’t do it for anyone else’s enjoyment. I do it for me. And I realize that when I
am doing it, I’m just in another really relaxed zone. And the thing that is important is even if the piece of furniture that I’m working on isn’t perfect after I
finished it, even if there are nicks and the paint or stain isn’t right, it doesn’t matter. What matters is it gets me to a place where I can be very relaxed,
where I can be stress-free and it is important that we deal with our stress. It’s okay for us to be selfish and take time for ourselves.”
       Johnson also uses walking to help relieve stress at work or to give her a little pick-me-up if she is feeling sluggish. “I might just take a walk downtown for
a few minutes or sometimes, I just walk through the building because we have those long hallways,” Johnson said. “Especially when I reach that afternoon
lull, sometimes that walk reenergizes you. Then again, if you are stressed out, the walk will help the stress. One of the things that I used to do, which is
really bad, would be to go get a candy bar when I was stressed. I stopped doing that for the most part and I try to get up and take a walk.”
       While good health is not achieved a morning or a day, the AKA Walk It Out served the potential for being the start of a new era or lifestyle for the
people who attended and were engaged. But it takes a lifetime commitment to get well and be well. And there is no better time to start than today.
Second Annual AKA Walk It Out
Take control of your health