Franciscan Health hosted its second Walk with a Doc in Michigan City on Wednesday. It is the second walk of their 10-week Walk with a Doc program. The 5-kilometer walk started at the city hall and continued through Washington Park.
“People underestimate the impact that exercise can have on your mental health, said Rebecca Saylor, Franciscan Employee Assistance Program Therapist. “It is great to bring awareness to that and to spread the word that healthy habits lead to a healthy mind.”
The event included a health talk given by a physician or clinical worker, and Saylor spoke for Wednesday’s event. She talked about the importance of walking and its benefits.
“Walking in particular is a great exercise because it bilaterally stimulates the brain in that it connects the right side and the left side,” said Saylor. “One side of your brain is very emotional, and one side of your brain is very logical, and it helps connect those two products. Sometimes you hear people say, ‘I need to go on a walk to clear my head’ and there's actually a science to support that it really helps them clear their head. It helps people similarly process information when people go to sleep. In REM sleep, the eyes roll from left to right. That's your brain's way of processing information while you're sleeping which you can recreate just by walking.”
Participating in the walk is free, and some attendees like Michigan City Mayor Duane Parry were walking to help manage stress.
“It is very important to control my stress because the position of mayor is a very stressful job and I am on the go seven days a week,” said Parry. “It is fabulous for the community. I encourage the community to come out here and be a part of this. It's so easy to forget about maintaining your own health because we all have so many commitments and so little time.”
Parry had walked in the previous week’s walk, but for some attendees, it was their first time.
“I've been active at the YMCA, and I wanted to add swimming, aerobics, and another exercise along with it to supplement my activity," said Roseanne Johnson, a first-time attendee. “The YMCA had a brochure that I picked up, and I thought that it would be fun to walk with other people once a week.”
The walk was helped by a partnership of the YMCA, the City of Michigan City, and General Insurance Services. There were giveaways from the event’s partners.
“It is good exercise and a good way to interact with the community where we can be seen in the community outside of the regular kind of police response,” said Marty Corley, assistant chief at the Michigan City Police Department. “They get to see us out being regular people.”
An overarching theme of the event was how walking is both physically and mentally great.
“Any movement is a good movement and helps to release the feel-good chemicals in the brain,” said Saylor. They can target depression, anxiety, and all the things that people are trying to cope with in today's world. Don't be intimidated to come and try. Just get started one step at a time.”
For more information about Franciscan Health, visit https://www.franciscanhealth.org/en/.
