National Walking Week, 1994

Proclamation 6684 of May 6, 1994

National Walking Week, 1994

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

We should all be aware of the benefits of regular
physical activity; it can improve our energy levels
while we expend calories. It can be as simple to
incorporate into our daily lives as taking the stairs
instead of the elevator, walking an extra block instead
of riding, or taking a walk after a meal instead of
taking a nap. Regular physical exercise can help to
prevent and manage coronary heart disease,
hypertension, noninsulin-dependent diabetes,
osteoporosis, and mental health problems, such as
depression and anxiety. And regular physical activity
has been associated with lower rates of colon cancer
and incidence of stroke.

Walking is an excellent form of light to moderate
physical activity for most people. Walking for at least
30 minutes each day is a simple and inexpensive, yet
very healthful, thing to do. It is a key element in
Healthy People 2000, the Nation's prevention agenda,
which envisions a healthier America by the year 2000.
An increase in this important, positive health-related
exercise can have a significant effect on the enhanced
quality and life span of those who practice it. It is
an invigorating form of self-care that can contribute
to the reduction of preventable death, disease, and
disability and to the containment of health care costs.
It also provides a time for reflection and stress
reduction.

Efforts to communicate with the American people about
the health benefits of regular walking and to improve
environments that make walking pleasurable and safe
deserve the support of policy makers, legislators, and
citizens throughout the country.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 146, has
designated May 1, 1994, through May 7, 1994, as
``National Walking Week'' and has authorized and
requested the President to issue a proclamation in
observance of this week.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1,
1994, through May 7, 1994, as National Walking Week. I
invite the Governors of the 50 States and the
appropriate officials of all other areas under the
jurisdiction of the United States to issue similar
proclamations. I also encourage the American people to
join with health and recreation professionals, private
voluntary associations, and other concerned
organizations in observing this occasion with
appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and
eighteenth.

(Presidential Sig.)>