The Wide World of Walking Equipment

Well it’s finally starting to warm up around most of the country. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing. The color green is starting to dominate your surroundings. Unfortunately we’ve spent most of those long winter months hibernating on our sofa in front of the TV or computer. But we are getting the urge re-engage our walking exercise routines and enjoy the glories of spring. However exposing our indoor condition skin to the bright sun light can pose some real short and long-term problems and certain walking safety precautions should be taken to limit the sun’s more nasty effects.

Sun screen/ sun blocks are the most effective walking gear defense against the harmful effects of UV radiation on the skin. The effects of UV radiation on the body are well documented: Sunburn, premature skin aging, with squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and melanoma among the most deadly. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure couldn’t be more true than in the case of excessive sun exposure.

A quick primer on UV radiation. There are two types of UV radiation: UVA and UVB (differences are in their wave length spectrums). UVA is the long-term problem and has been linked to cancers. UVB principle downside is sunburn. Both are harmful and need to be addressed by a properly formulated sunscreen.

Measuring Protection: SPF

The effectiveness of a sun screen is measured by the SPF (Sun Protection Factor) scale found on sunscreen packaging. SPF is the amount of UVB radiation required to cause sunburn with the particular sunscreen on verses the amount required without sunscreen. If you’re wearing a product with a SPF of 50 means you can absorb 50x more radiation without getting a burn. But SPF gives you little information about the level of protection against UVA. Simply relying on SPF will not give you the whole picture. While Europe has created a standard to measure a product’s effectiveness against UVA, the US standards are still under development. That’ not to say that the products don’t contain protection against UAV, usually in the form of zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, currently there is just no way of telling the level of protection you ‘re getting.

AAD Tips for Sun Protection

The American Academy of Dermatology offers these tips to help protect you from the harmful effects of sun exposure during your walk.

• Apply a generous amount of water-resistant sunscreen with a SPF of at least 30.
• Check to ensure that the sunscreen blocks both UVA and VUB radiation
• Reapply the sunscreen very two hours and after swimming or working up a sweat

Some additional tips

• Wear protective walking clothing such as a long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
• Walk in the shade whenever possible especially during the peak radiation hours of 10am and 4pm.
• Take special care with children using protective clothing and applying sunscreen.
• Water and sand can reflect the damaging rays of the sun, which can increase your chance of increase UV exposure.
• Since sunscreens filter vitamin D along with UV radiation, be sure you get you daily requirement through diet or supplements.
• Ultraviolet light from tanning beds is the same as from the sun so avoid them. Periodically check your skin for any abnormal changes, growths or bleeding. If you notice anything out of the ordinary check with your dermatologist.

As we get ready to resume our outdoor exercise routines it’s important that we take the proper precautions to insure that we incorporate the important walking safety equipment and supplies in our standard routines. Walk Safely and Be Healthy.

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We all have them don’t we?  Usually more than one pair.  They’re lying at the bottom of our closet gathering dust.  Worn just enough that you’d rather use a different pair but not worn enough to throw away.  What am I taking about?  That stacks of used walking sneakers of course.  We’ve all fallen prey to the impulse to purchase a new pair of sneakers not because we really need them but because you’ve tired of you old pair and just want a change.  Now this walking gear been sitting there for a month or two, what to do with them?  Throw them away?  There is a better idea.  There are a number of organizations that will gladly take them off your hands…or in this case your feet.

The first obvious recipient would be your favorite local charity organization.  Those that collect used clothing.  Goodwill Industries comes to mind, but there are many others.  They typically have drop off points or schedule periodic pickups. 

That’s the obvious one but there are many others.  For example Nike has a program called Reuse-a-shoe.  You drop off your old walking sneaker at one of their locations (a locator can be found on their web site) and they will break the shoes down into its component parts and recycle it into what’s called Nike Grind.  A raw material used in constructing the soft flooring for basketball courts and running tracks.

Soles4Souls is another great organization that ships walking sneakers both new and used to the needy around the world.  They encourage people to set up shoe collection drives and provides some “how to” information.  Their motto “Changing the World, One Pair at a Time” gives you their perspective.   You simply box up your old sneakers and send them to one of their three warehouse locations.

Another is Heart and Sole a program affiliated with Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.  They have been collecting and redistributing used walking sneakers to charitable organizations around the globe since 1999.

Others include:

One World Running

Sole Responsibility

The Shoe Bank

Another excellent source for finding drop of locations is Recycled Runners. Com.  A directory of sneaker collection programs.  Keep in mind that most of these organizations are looking for slightly worn walking sneakers so if the old sneakers are really ”old” save them for the Nike recycle program. 

So if you’re tired of stumbling over that stack of old walking gear why not donate them to one of these organizations.  You’ll be helping the needy, the environment and yourself.

Technorati Tags: donation, goodwill, green, recycle, running shoes, Walking Gear, walking sneakers

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