Walk this way toward relaxation - includes related information about exercise - adapted from The Walking Magazine - Special Women's Health Issue

Vegetarian Times, July, 1995 by Adele Edwards, Rana Dogar

Remember when we thought that in the future, life was going to get easier? We expected to become Jane Jetson with her robotic maid and instant pizzas. Instead, we're like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory, frantically trying to keep pace with ever-faster conveyor belt.

Too much to do and too little time to do it; that's the state of mind of more women than ever before. And it's not just among high-powered city dwellers. According to Geoffrey Godbey, professor of leisure studies at Penn State University, 38 percent of all urban, rural and suburban Americans always feel rushed. And - no surprise - women feel more rushed than men.

Fortunately, the power to slow down the pace, to enjoy the world around us and to gain control is in our hands, or rather, our feet. Simply taking a walk is a great way to slow down and relieve stress. A walk lets your downtime be your uptime: By walking instead of collapsing in front of the TV or sweeping up the dust bunnies under your bed, you are boosting your strength, energy, health and mood. In short, walking is refreshing, which means that by walking on a regular basis, you'll have more energy to accomplish the things you want to do. (Well, perhaps not all of them.)

To help you figure out how you can fit walking into your life, here's a daily, weekly and monthly plan.

DEVELOP A DAILY PLAN

Get started. A walk should be an everyday event. Even if you can spare only 10 minutes, go for a quick trip around the block. Look at the clouds, feel the temperature, check out the shrubbery. You owe it to your mind and body to let go for a little while every day.

Surprisingly, some of the relaxation you experience may come not from the energy expenditure, but from the motion. It's much the same principle as meditation. "By repeating a muscular activity or saying a word, phrase or prayer over and over - and passively ignoring distracting thoughts - for 10 to 20 minutes a day, twice a day, you can reduce the symptoms of stress, increase your sense of well-being and create feelings of being in control," says Herbert Benson, M.D., an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute. That's because repetitive mental or physical action triggers the physiological reaction that 20 years ago Benson dubbed the "Relaxation Response." During this response, the body relaxes within 15 minutes to 20 minutes of rhythmic movement, resulting in a lower heart rate and blood pressure, slowed breathing, slower brain wave patterns, decreased oxygen consumption, increased blood flow to the extremities, and reduced skeletal muscle tension and metabolism.

Still sitting? Even the prospect of such happy consequences may not get you out of the house or office every day. Sometimes you need an icebreaker - something that will give you momentum. Here are three tricks to get you going:

* Put on your walking clothes. Keep them comfortable and breathable, because your body temperature will rise as you walk. A good walking shoe is comfortable, supportive and cushioned, with a flexible forefront and a low, beveled heel. This allows your foot to ease into each step from the heel, as opposed to flapping flat on the ground. Just changing into those shoes and pulling on your favorite shorts will help give you a sense of commitment.

* Tell yourself that you're just going out for a quick walk. Just to the corner and back. Then when you get to the corner, reassess.

* Start a streak - an uninterrupted series of days when you walk at least 10 minutes. (Keep the minimum time low.) A streak, you'll find, is a terrible thing to break.

To bolster the anti-stress effects of your daily walk, add a few minutes of stretching exercises to your routine. "Stress moves right into your upper body: the head, neck and shoulders," says exercise physiologist Jim Wharton, who along with his son Phil teaches Active Isolated (AI) stretching in New York City. Touted by the American College of Sports Medicine as an effective way to reduce stress, increase flexibility and prevent injury, AI can provide quick release of muscle tension during the day. AI isolates one muscle group and allows it to relax by working the opposite group. An AI stretch is held for a maximum of two seconds and repeated eight to 10 times.

The AI technique isn't new - it was developed years ago at the University of Illinois - but it has only recently come out of the clinical setting, thanks to the Whartons. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, the Whartons trained 33 Olympians - 11 of whom were medalists.

The five AI exercises pictured below can help you reduce stress. Before you begin, warm up by gently rolling your head from side to side eight to 10 times.

Do the set once a day - it takes less than five minutes. Breathe out while holding a stretch; breathe in as you return to the original position. As you do the exercises, you should feel a comfortable pull. Never stretch to the point of pain.

ADOPT A WEEKLY PLAN

The time you devote to walking can be the most energizing and rewarding part of the day. To keep your jaunts fresh, vary their intensity. Here are three types of walks you can use. Throw in a different type of walk two or three times a week - particularly if you're feeling sluggish one day - to stimulate both mind and muscle.