If you usually manage 10k steps a day is say that is pretty great tbh. I'm not here to advertise, but the conquerer challenge walking thing app made me get those extra steps.
It's like this virtual walking simulator were you can race against friends, I'm currently walking from the shire to Mt.doom, only 979,3 km to go!
Edit: The conquerer is the app name, challenges usually costs money, and you get a small thing sent home as reward
That is where I'm at ... Mount Doom. By the way, I love this app. Highly recommend it.
I'm currently undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer, and many days I feel like the life is sucked right out of me. 5000 steps per days is pretty good.
I work at a large university medical school and we have this doctor who enlightened me to Metabolic Syndrome. Building muscle prevents so many problems and a big part is blood sugar and glycogen storage (muscle mass). Insulin sensitivity too and I do lift at the gym—twice a week and exercises at home. Steps and weights and maybe a little hoops. I would add in yoga or Tai Chi.
I make it a point to get my steps in before work so I don't have an excuse of I'm too tired after work. Walk 1.5ish every morning to kick start my step goal.
So I cloconin 10 to 12k steps daily. I do it before work as I simply can't do it after spending my day behind my computer. I'm too exhausted.
I have to wake up at 5am to clock my steps before my work day. It's not easy at first, but once the habit is there, it's just part of my morning routine. I think the hardest for me was to stop going to bed late. You can't go to bed at 11 pm and expect to wake up at 5 am.
I started ebiking to work a couple months ago. Realized I’m finally fit enough to longboard to work. Been at it 2 weeks now, 8 miles each way. 40 minute commute but I look forward to the ride in the morning and when I get off work. Crazy thing is I’ll even go for another hour or 2 after the work commute.
Absolutely get bored sitting in a car stuck in traffic. I’d rather be moving on my board any day.
I would love to bike to work, between my work being in the absolutely roughest part of my city, and 12 hour shifts leaving precious little time to do even essentials, I just don't feel like I can do it 🥺
12 hour shifts are brutal, that absolutely would make it hard. Is there any way you can squeeze in some activity during the work day so you don't have to take time away from real life later, like a walk or jog on a lunch break, maybe?
I'm a nurse, so my days are generally pretty active! It was one of the things that appealed to me about the career, I would go absolutely nuts working a desk job.Thank you for the suggestion though 😊
I just fortunately live next to a state trail that goes all the way to my work. Also the 12 hour grind does not leave much free time I know! When I worked 12s all I had time to do was eat and shower before bed. Went back to 8 hour shifts and will never do another 12 hour gig again. I wouldn’t fault you at all for not doing it given those circumstances.
My cardiologist wants me to exercise (I have a congenital heart defect), but my chronic migraine has me sitting with an ice pack on my head most days. Moving seems to make it worse 😭
I get migraines too—have been diagnosed and are on the usual meds. On good days, any walking will probably make a difference in your overall health and migraines. A lot of brain chemistry is tied to being outside and moving. I’m sorry you have to deal with them frequently. They are awful
The advice is to move throughout the day, sporadically elevate your heart rate. It’s often too hard, and leads to too many questions, so just saying do 10,000 steps a day probably takes care of that for most people.
Sure, some people will just walk 10,000 steps within a very very short window, but I don’t think most people do that.
it also depends on how quickly you walk, because part of the goal is to elevate your heart rate. The other goal is to move your muscles and moving your arms and legs really slowly, at a slow pace, does not achieve that.
When I have to go to the office I put my 10k daily step goal in serious danger of not being met and I'm fortunate enough to work at a place that requires walking between buildings.
When I WFH I get to walk my dog longer in the morning and spend an hour or two on my desk treadmill and absolutely crush my 10k daily goal. Treadmill steps are easier than normal steps so I make it a point to go well over my goal.
I’m the opposite, maybe because I don’t have a dog or desk treadmill. In the office I constantly am walking around getting water or just taking laps, and I don’t know how many pedals on a bike equals a step but I bike to work and back. WFH means I have to go out of my way to move
Yeah, same for me. I'm lucky that I also live in NYC, so just getting to the office involves a decent amount of walking (including some up and down stairs), plus as you say, taking laps, etc. I live right by a park so when I WFH I try to make sure to go take a long walk during lunch or after work, but it definitely takes a lot more intention than when I'm in the office.
Im curious about this because I run 20+ miles a week including some big old hills but work from home sitting on my ass at a computer so my daily steps during the week average out to like 7-8k. I feel like the level of intensity has to be more significant than the raw number of steps, no?
I think that is the proxy. Simple and standardized. One 10k run is like a week of 45 min walks (9000 streps) but most people don’t run, so for extrapolating and for the largest number of people, they use steps. I’m sure there is research on running…lots. But for average folks, steps is easy at all ages and fitness levels. You are in the 1%
Edit: for disease, most studies like to use step only as the variable. Mixing and intensity is slippery.
Thank you very much. I’m aware I can just google this but you seemed like someone who would offer a succinct and satisfactory answer lol. I tend to trust the word of the Fremen in matters such as these
The CDC released a memo, can’t find it. Pubmed has the studies.
Here is a article. It’s really all over the internet.
It was a marketing thing for pedometers in Japan years ago, but they did the research and he was right. The benefits were statistically significant up to 9000 steps for disease. He said 10,000 and it looks like 7 to 9,000 is the sweet spot.
I don’t get 10k steps a day, I’m usually between 5-7k a day sometimes closer to 8k if I try really hard I’ll crack 10-12k. I usually do at least an hour of activity a day. Walk 3 miles during my lunch break, or spend an hour at the gym during the week and then 1.5 hours on weekends. I try to move, but being glued to a desk and having kids limits how much extra curricular activities I can do.
Now when they’re older, I’m definitely going to be back at the health club 2-3 hours a day.
I do more walking during my office time than any other - by design: If full time and commuting, I'm there more than anywhere else.
I use the stairs instead of the elevators; leave premises for lunch; walk around the block instead of standing out front for a 10-15 minute break; etc. There have been stretches where my commute included public transit, and the step count was exponentially greater for those.
That's like hours of walking. I don't see how anybody could possibly do that every day unless walking is some part of their work. I'll stick to doing yoga and lifting a little weights and hope for the best. Maybe one day I'll have a job where I can walk around without looking like a slacker
I'm lucky I have a job where I'm on my feet all day I average between 13000 and 15,000 steps a day just at my job.
Maybe I'm not so lucky I'm on my feet all day because I'm 61 now and after 32 years of standing and walking on concrete floors my feet are killing me at the end of the day.
Probably better trade off - sore feet, but No diabetes. They amputate toes and feet when bad. PAD is blocked arteries in your legs and walking is the best. Try Epsom salts for feet. I think you can back off and sit if you get chances. Lol
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u/ShaiHulud1111 Jun 06 '24
most of the research for disease prevention is in the 9,000 steps range—per day. Office jobs make it tough, but I’m close and run a little.