Find the ole pedometer!
I wanted to talk this week about a more concrete topic in the health and wellness world. I am going to introduce something that can be implemented starting tomorrow - or even today. I am talking about walking!
While, yes, we have discussed the benefits of exercise time and time again, I wanted to discuss it in a more goal-oriented manner. I have been seeing this "10,000 steps" number on social media and in the news. So, I decided to try it out for a season and see how difficult it was to attain as well as if I noticed any difference in how I felt.
Now, I am a to-do list oriented person, so it will come as no surprise to many of you that I really enjoyed this metric. I used my Apple Watch to track my steps, and it turned out I was able to achieve this number with just a short walk in addition to my usual activities of the day. I will say there were some days where I was at my desk all day studying or had a hard workout in the morning and proceeded to be a vegetable for the remainder of the day. These days, the 10,000 seemed difficult to get. Other days, I did not even have to do any extra walking. I looked at my steps at 4 pm, and I was done for the day!
So, what did I take from this experience and how can this help you?
You might also wonder why on Earth we are talking about this. I want to start out by saying ANY walking or movement is better than none at all. Maybe the number for you is not 10,000 - maybe it is 5,000 or 8,000 to start. What I will say is this experience made me so much more aware of my daily patterns. It made me more intentional in taking the stairs, walking around the house, and going on that short 1-2 mile walk on days I had been sitting inside for hours. It helped me to seamlessly incorporate more movement into my day!
Even better, on busy days when I did not have time to workout, this goal of 10,000 steps served as a very attainable goal for me. I felt that even though I did not "workout" I still had a day where I moved my body. Running around the hospital was simply enough for me that day to get a daily dose of physical activity. I even saw benefit in my relationships. Some days, I knew I was going to need more steps after work. I texted friends, family, roommates, etc to join me on my walks. In this way, I had so much physical AND emotional benefit from the time getting to connect with others. I felt less anxious and more centered which is saying a lot during this stressful time of residency interviews! Sometimes being in the stillness and quiet of walking alone is quite cathartic.
While I saw the changes in the patterns of my life, I started to get curious about where the number 10,000 came from. I did an in depth literature search. I did not find any studies that listed 10,000 steps as a hard and fast number to swear by. I did, however, find study after study pointing to the correlation between walking and increased mental health and well-being, decreased cancer and cardiovascular disease risk, mortality, and anti-aging benefits. After reading several, it seems that there was no additional benefit after walking more than 10,000 steps which may be where the media has gotten this number from.
Regardless, the evidence is there! I can tell you from my own experience that this daily practice made a huge difference in the way I spent my time, my patterns of movement throughout the day, and my mental head space.
So, there is my challenge for this week.
You might also wonder why on Earth we are talking about this. I want to start out by saying ANY walking or movement is better than none at all. Maybe the number for you is not 10,000 - maybe it is 5,000 or 8,000 to start. What I will say is this experience made me so much more aware of my daily patterns. It made me more intentional in taking the stairs, walking around the house, and going on that short 1-2 mile walk on days I had been sitting inside for hours. It helped me to seamlessly incorporate more movement into my day!
Set a step goal at the beginning of the week. Maybe it is 5,000, 10,000, or even 8,000. Stick to it for at least 2 weeks - enough time to make it a habit (which is really 18 days but two weeks is easier to remember). Call some friends, gather your household, listen to a podcast, bask in the silence - however you prefer to spend this time - just try it! See if it makes a noticeable difference in your life. You have absolutely nothing to lose - only to gain. This might just be the investment in your health and longevity that you did not know you needed.
So, lace up those tennis shoes. Take those stairs. Walk that mall. All while decreasing your risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease and increasing your mental health and well-being.
What are you waiting on?!
Just to name a few of these papers:
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