Expert Article FINAL

WALKING SAVED OUR LIVES

Why ten-thousand steps a day will change your life, and how to easily achieve your step goal.

It’s the era of smart everything, and if we weren’t concerned about our health before, we certainly are now. With smart devices capturing the activity of our eyes and fingers, we don’t realize how infrequently we get our legs moving. Between long commutes, boring desk jobs, and sedentary home lifestyles, the average American spends nearly 7.7 hours sitting each day (JustStand.org)! It’s silly, but your day-to-day inactivity can quite literally kill you.

Lucky for us, there are great wearable technologies (Fitbit is my favorite) aimed at counteracting the sedentary lifestyle other devices – like cell phones – create. When you purchase a wearable health device, one of the first things you do is set a step goal. Often, the default is 10,000 steps per day. But why are steps the key indicator of health? What’s the magic in 10k? And if 10k steps is nearly 5 miles, how can we possible achieve that goal daily? Great questions.

 Why are steps the important health metric?

It’s simple. Tracking steps is easy to do and it costs you nothing to walk (Cooper). No expensive gym membership required, but a free app or an inexpensive wearable tracker is certainly helpful. Other health metrics require you to log information, schedule appointments, etc. If you’re like me, you need something effortless to keep you motivated. Steps don’t lie, and they don’t cheat (I can’t be the only one “forgetting” to do my food log every night).

Where does the 10,000 come from?

The magical 10,000 steps per day metric first popped up around 1960 in a Japanese pedometer marketing campaign (Cooper). Over the years, the medical community has confirmed that 10k may not be as arbitrary as it once seemed.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Physical Activity Guideline sets activity recommendations and the Surgeon General recommends 30 accumulated minutes of activity per day. The American Heart Association now uses the 10k metric as a guideline for improving health and decreasing risk of heart disease, which is the number one killer of American men and women.

 I like to think of it as a little equation:

Our normal lives require far less than 10k steps, but with some effort 10k is totally achievable.

I’m In. How do I get 10,000 steps a day?

The average American adult takes roughly 5,000 steps a day (JustStand.org). Again, 10,000 steps equal about five miles of walking. This seems daunting, but with small adjustments to the things you already do every day, this goal is totally achievable. If regular activity isn’t normal for you, no worries! Start with a baseline and little lifestyle changes will get you there. Here are some of my favorite (and easy) tips and tricks to increase your step count and achieve that magic 10k:

Make it a date

Step Benefit ≈ 2,000

Grabbing coffee with a friend or colleague this week? Suggest taking a walk around the neighborhood while you chat instead of sitting at a table like usual. Health and fitness are always easier with a buddy.

Brush them REALLY good

Step Benefit ≈ 250/brush

It’s 6AM. I already know it’s going to be a bad hair day and I’m doing everything possible to avoid the mirror. This may sound crazy, but I literally pace around my house while I brush my teeth. Let’s say you spend two minutes twice a day brushing your teeth. That’s adds up to a lot of steps!

Set a reminder

Step Benefit ≈ 300 steps/hr.

If you are studying for an exam or working on a project and you know you’ll be sitting at a desk for several hours, set an hourly reminder on your phone to get up and take a lap. Not only will you get your blood flowing, but it can help stimulate your brain and make you more productive (Levine).

Say YES

Step Benefit ≈ 4,000

Do something you enjoy every week. If you are feeling crazy, do something you enjoy every single day. Maybe that’s having a dance party in your living room, walking your dog, going to the bar, or watching the sunset on the beach. Say yes, get out there, and go get those steps.

Sitting time à Adventure time

Step Benefit ≈ 2,000/hr.

Surprise! You got through the LAX security line in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, your flight doesn’t board for an hour and a half. You could sit at your gate and play sudoku or you could walk around. Check out the stores, get a snack, run into a fellow Trojan. Airports really are the best people watching places, but we miss it all while we stare at our phones.

But wait! There’s more benefits!

If the health benefits of getting up and moving weren’t enough for you, think about some of the other advantages. In the coffee shop example, maybe you can have a more organic conversation. In the brushing teeth example, you’ll save water by walking away from the sink. While studying, you’ll be able to stay more alert and focused on your work. By saying yes to the activities you love, you get to experience life.  You’ll connect with others and understand your environment in ways you wouldn’t with an inactive lifestyle.

10,000 steps really did save our lives

My parents are the most selfless and hardworking people I know. For years they commuted long hours, sat at their desks, absolutely poured their hearts into their work, and came home dead tired wanting nothing more than to put their feet up and relax. Both my parents were extremely overweight. I get it, life gets crazy and our health often takes the backseat. We have other priorities and it seems impossible to selfishly take a few extra minutes for ourselves.

When my mom’s dad turned 60, he had open heart surgery and suffered a heart attack shortly after recovering. A few months later, the same thing happened to my dad’s dad. Like my parents, both my grandfathers were fortunate enough to have jobs they loved, yet the stress of their daily routines and the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle inevitably caught up with them.

As a family, the next best thing we could do was take physical steps in the right. 17 family members bought Fitbit devices in 2015. I am proud to say that with small lifestyle changes and a little healthy competition, we have all succeeded in regularly completing 10,000 steps per day. But more importantly, we are all healthy.

We did it and so can you. It’s all about little intentional changes that can make a big impact. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.

Works Cited

“Chapter 4: Active Adults.” Chapter 4 - 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines, health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/chapter4.aspx.

Cooper, Belle Beth. “Is 10,000 Steps The Best Measurement of Our Health?” The Next Web, 29 Nov. 2013, thenextweb.com/apps/2013/11/29/10000-steps-really-best-measurement-health/.

Levine, James. “Too Much Sitting Is Bad for Your Health.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for

              Medical Education and Research, 4 Sept. 2015, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005.

“Physical Activity.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Jan. 2018, www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/walking/index.htm.

“Sitting Disease By The Numbers Infographic.” JustStand, www.juststand.org/resource/infographics/sitting-disease-by-the-numbers/.

“The Magic of 10,000 Steps.” Fitbit Blog, 23 June 2016, blog.fitbit.com/the-magic-of-10000-steps/.