It snows almost every day here in Southern Michigan. Dave is currently in Chicago for work, and I just got in from shoveling the driveway. We have probably already gotten about 10inches today, and it is still snowing. I believe it is going to snow through the night.
Dave and I both have the same philosophy on shoveling snow --- we have SUV's, therefore it doesn't need to be done. IT will melt when it melts.
The only problem is that guilt puts a damper on our "philosophy" on shoveling. All of our neighbors either shovel or snowblow their driveways....... sometimes they even come over and do ours for us. Great right?? It is very kind.... but now we feel that we must shovel our driveway before someone else feels the need to come and do ours. Should we just share our no-shovel philosophy with them? Probably not.
I went to the Y tonight to the most difficult 60min aerobic class that I have ever been to in my life. I ran into one of our neighbors at the Y and she said she was going to send her husband down tonight or in the morning to snowblow our driveway. SO, when I got home I decided to go out and do it on my own.
So - I feel like I could probably eat anything I wanted at this point....shoveling is hard work. Don't get me wrong - we sincerely appreciate the generosity of our neighbors, and we aren't lazy - we just don't have a legitimate reason TO shovel.
I googled some stats on shoveling, and here is what I have found: The good news is that 15 minutes of snow shoveling counts as moderate physical activity according to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health. We all should aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity of some kind on most days of the week. Brisk walking or social dancing are other ways to fit in moderate physical activity during cold winter months.
The bad news is that researchers have reported an increase in the number of fatal heart attacks among snow shovelers after heavy snowfalls. This rise may be due to the sudden demand that shoveling places on an individual's heart. Snow shoveling may cause a quick increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
One study determined that after only two minutes of shoveling, sedentary mens' heart rates rose to levels higher than those normally recommended during aerobic exercise. Shoveling may be vigorous activity even for healthy college-aged students. A study performed by researchers at North Dakota State University determined that, based on heart rate, shoveling was a moderately intense activity for college-aged subjects most of the time but was vigorous activity during about one-third of their shoveling time of 14 minutes.
4 comments:
You really must be bored without Dave to go to the Y, shovel, AND look up facts about shoveling. Hahahahaha! No offense really, friend. I would have only been concerned had you decided to shovel someone else's drive too. :) Now go eat some chocolate. ;)
In the famous words of someone, welllllllll. It's Feb. now so maybe not much more to go. Maybe if you guys got a nice electric start, self propelled snow blower for next year it would be easier than shoveling or feeling bad. lol
Dad, I hope there isn't much more to go!!! Maybe we'll have to see if there are any blowers on sale at the end of the season! Jill
I'm glad we haven't had that much snow. You need a good friend with a blade on his truck that just thoughtfully does your drive for you. We have Mike L. and it doesn't bother us at all to let him do it. But, he's only had to do it once!
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