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Get Moving for Health during "May Month"
May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This year, Central Shenandoah Health District joins the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to challenge Americans to get moving for health and to get active and fit during May Month.
According to Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which started National Physical Activity and Sports Month in 1983, “Americans of all ages need to incorporate more movement in their daily lives. Adults need at least 30 minutes of activity 5 days each week. This can be done by choosing to bike or walk instead of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators, or pushing a lawnmower instead of riding one. Children need at least 60 minutes of active play daily. They need to run, climb, jump, and just get up and move around, away from their desks, the television and computer games.”
Twenty minutes of vigorous physical activity three times a week, such as sports, aerobics, working out in the gym and running, have added health benefits. Johnson says, “But it’s important to understand that you don’t need to sweat in a gym or run a marathon to reap the health benefits of daily physical activity. Even 30 minutes a day, broken up into shorter increments of ten or fifteen minutes, can greatly improve your health.”
For information about the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, go to www.fitness.gov. To start a physical activity and fitness program, log on to www.presidentschallenge.org and sign up to take the President’s Challenge.
President's Challenge
The President's Challenge is a program that encourages all Americans to make being active part of their everyday lives. No matter what your activity and fitness level, the President's Challenge can help motivate you to improve. Start earning Presidential awards for your daily physical activity and fitness efforts. Click below on the link for your appropriate age group and sign up today (Kids, Teens, Adults, Seniors). Click Educators or Groups to learn how to adapt the President's Challenge to your special educational need or group program.
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/home_kids.aspx
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/home_teens.aspx
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/home_adults.aspx
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/home_seniors.aspx
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/educators/index.aspx
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/group_admin/index.aspx
Be prepared for severe weather season. You may find the following links helpful in making preparations for dangerous weather conditions: * Hurricane Preparedness * Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Floods
Emergency Preparedness & Response Team recommends:
Keep shrubbery and trees trimmed. By removing damaged limbs you reduce the chances that strong winds will hurl them at great speeds or they won't block up gutters, storm drains, or culverts.
Remove any debris or loose items in your yard so they also don’t become missiles in strong wind or clog up gutters, culverts or storm drains.
Bring lawn furniture, trash cans, outdoor decorations, and hanging plants inside.
Keep culverts, ditches, and gutters free of debris to allow potential flood waters to flow freely.
Stay away from flooded areas - water may still rise.
Never walk, swim, or drive in flood water. You cannot see on the surface submerged debris or how fast water is moving.
Flood waters only 6 inches deep can knock a person off his or her feet.
Stay away from creek and stream banks in flooded areas. Soaked banks often become unstable due to heavy rainfall.
Watch out for snakes - flood waters flush them from their homes.
Vehicles can be swept away by only 2 feet of water. Do not drive through flood waters. If a road is covered in water, do not assume the road is underneath, it may have also been washed away
More Resources
Virginia Department of Emergency Management
CDC Hurricane information
Red Cross Hurricane information
Key Facts About Hurricane Readiness (CDC)
Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency (USDA)