Patients across the region will get a chance to hang out with a family physician and get some exercise as part of an initiative to mark Move for Health Day.
Walk with your Doc is an event highlighting the World Health Organization's Move for Health Day and events will be happening in Cranbrook, Kimberley and across the East Kootenay region on Thursday, May 14th from noon-1 p.m.
Kimberley doctors will be walking at the Civic Centre, while Western Financial Place will host physicians in Cranbrook.
Dr. Ilona Hale from Kimberley notes that any kind of regular exercise, even if it's something as simple as going for a walk, is one part of a healthy lifestyle.
"Exercise definitely helps prevent a lot of diseases like heart attacks and strokes, but also things like Alzheimer's and even some cancers," Hale said. "Even when you're diagnosed with something like diabetes and high blood pressure, arthritis, chronic pain—it can actually reverse those things and make them go away.
"Mental health problems as well, depression, anxiety, insomnia, low energy, all those things are improved with exercise as well.
"If there was such a thing as a magic pill, this would be it."
It doesn't have to be high-intensity exertion to get the health benefits from walking, she added.
"You don't need to train for a marathon to be healthy, a lot of those health benefits come from parking your car at the far end of the parking lot and walking, or walking to work," she said. "It doesn't have to be complicated."
Events will be taking place at:
Cranbrook - Western Financial Place
Kimberley - Civic Centre Arena
Creston - Creston & District Community Centre
Fernie - Annex Park
Sparwood - Sparwood Recreation & Leisure Centre
Golden - Spirit Square
Invermere - Mt. Nelson Athletic Park
For more information, visit walkwithyourdoc.ca.