A Billion Steps By April?

The American Public Health Association’s 1 Billion Steps Challenge makes it easy and fun to promote good health and physical activity in our community.
You can organize a walking team in your neighborhood, your workplace, your congregation, with friends, or just join as an individual.
No matter how big or how small, this challenge makes it easy for people to get moving.
The APHA has partnered with Stridekick to give Challenge participants free access to their fitness-tracking program.
This Challenge begins in January 2018 with a goal of reaching 1 billion collective steps by the National Public Health Week which is the first week of April.
We know you can do it—in fact, last year’s Challenge surpassed 2 billion steps!

Why Should You Join The 1 Billion Steps Challenge?

Because:

• Movement can lessen everyday pain and keep the body agile.

• The human body responds to movement by increasing strength and flexibility.

• Inactivity decreases muscular strength

• Simple physical activity like walking can help you:

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Strengthen your bones and muscles

• Improve your mental health, mood, balance and coordination.

• Improve your ability to do daily activities and prevent falls.

• Increase your chances of living longer

One way to challenge yourself to get moving is to join the 1 Billion Steps Challenge!
To join, visit https://stridekick.com/tc/apha18.
If you joined last year, sign up with your existing account. If you want to join a registered team, click on the team listed. You can also join Team APHA.
The Washington County Health Department’s team is WCHD Warriors.
If you have a fitness tracker, you can sync your device.
You can also use your cell phone to track your steps by downloading the Stridekick app or connect through Google Fit.
Your steps can also be entered manually by selecting Manual Entry and adding steps each day.
If you do not have a step-counting device, you can estimate your steps by keeping track of the time you are physically active.
Twenty minutes of activity equals about 1 mile or 2,000 steps. All this information is available on the Stridekick site.
If you have questions, go to apha@apha.org or to https://stridekick.com/tc/apha18 or call the Washington County Health Department at 618-327-3644 and ask for Babs or Sharon or visit the health department’s Facebook page.
Join us in getting Washington County moving!