How Five Minutes A Day Can Change the Lives of People in Louisiana

Who would have ever thought that 5 minutes a day would have such a massive impact on the lives of people in Louisiana?

It seems like every time we turn around in Louisiana there is some report issued about why our state sucks. Take a note from my imaginary "Book of Positive Things", I have been trying to think more about how we can improve life, but by doing something really easy and simple?

Look, the stats can be really rough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number 1 killer of people overall in the state of Louisiana is heart disease. And among all the states, Louisiana ranks number 5 in heart disease deaths.

There are approximately 11,000 deaths due to heart disease each year in our state. The number 2 killer of the ones we love in Louisiana is cancer, followed by accidents.

Who Doesn't Want to Live Longer?

With the massive medical advancement in just the last ten years, we know an incredible amount of information about the things that do and do not work for our bodies.

But, having written that, we also know that our lives are completely hectic! Jobs, kids, homework, preparing meals, and running the kids to different sporting activities make all of us feel like we are constantly running on a treadmill!

Is there a way to find a happy medium? Believe it or not, there really is something easy that can be done!

What Is a Simple, Easy Way the Experts Say Can Help Us Live Longer?

Experts say, and really we don't need an expert to tell us this, but we all sit way too long each. Most of us have a sedentary lifestyle. We sit all day at work, and then we go home and sit with our kids to help with homework, and we sit down just to get some rest.

Taking a five-minute walk break once an hour helps with our blood sugar levels, and can extend life by breaking the cycle of our sedentary lifestyles.

Talking the five minutes to walk around has major benefits for your overall health, life expectancy, your mood, and preventing chronic disease.

Here is information from a report from CBS that really drives home the point that extra steps help:

Researchers in Poland analyzed 17 previous studies involving more than 220,000 participants and found that taking just 2,500 steps a day can reduce your chances of dying from heart disease and 4,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of death from all causes....... In other words, the more steps you take, the more likely you will live longer.

Instead of us trying to jam in 10,000 steps a day or always hitting the gym, even these little 5-minute walk breaks are so helpful to us. And, I don't know about you, but I have a much better mindset when I think about promising myself to do just a 5-minute walk a day instead of having to walk at least 30 minutes each day!