Walking is, I feel, an underrated form of exercise. We all do some form of walking on a daily basis, be is walking to the fridge, walking to the office or getting the dog out for a stroll. I think so much focus is put on intense exercise such as running, HIIT, Crossfit etc, but it's easy to forget about the simplest form of exercise that the majority of us have right at our feet.
In the modern world, lots of us live quite sedentary lives and it's believed that in the UK we spend approximately 60% of our waking hours in a sedentary state. As I'm sure you're all aware, it's recommended that we do 10,000 steps a day in order to help maintain our health, but did you know that the majority of us only do about 3000?
Walking has been shown to have multiple health benefits, including weight maintenance and loss, reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease and a reduction in the impact of chronic illnesses such as lung disease, arthritis and back pain. But it's not just our physical health that is benefited by walking, our mental health is too. Walking can help us relax and reduce anxiety levels, it allows you to engage and connect with nature and also can be time just for you.
Recently, I've been taking note of the number of steps I walk daily and making an conscious effort to walk more,. I've been getting the dog out on longer, more rural walks, which not only benefits me but him too. An hour walking with Obi can rack up around 6000 steps and I've loved spending more time in nature. I've also been more conscious of getting up from my desk at work so that I'm not sedentary too long, although I do have a job which is slightly more active as I'm back and forth all day. What I do find interesting is my steps are impacted on which shift I'm working as on earlier shifts I tend to spend more time in meetings and group activities and so do less steps compared to when I'm on a later shift.
In terms of tracking my steps, I've been using the S Health app on my phone, I know a lovely lady I work with uses the Pacer app on her iPhone too (this app is also available on android and is free!), so you don't need to invest in fancy kit to keep an eye on your steps and let's face it, most of us have our phones on us constantly!
Do you get your 10,000 steps a day in on a regular basis? What changes could you make to ensure you are? I'd love to hear your thoughts either in the comments below or tweet me @mygenerallife.
While you're here, why not check out my previous post: Snowboarding Wishlist
I think these kind of tools are great to see how much you're actually moving about. Getting to 10,000 steps is harder than I thought without my busy retail job! I worked in an office for 8 weeks and averaged around 6-7k, only hitting 10k on my gym days. Thankfully, as of next week, I'll be back in a busy hands on job role so I'm looking forward to getting more active!
ReplyDeleteIf you're an office based worker, I think it's just important to get out on your lunch break and take a little walk, and try to include more walking in either your commute or before/after work. Everyone could benefit from a little more walking though!