Have you ever heard of the benchmark goal for walking 10,000 steps every day? Well this summer, I've decided to do something radical - I'm going to walk 1 million steps.
Truth be told, over this past winter and spring I've been disappointed in how much physical activity I'm getting. So with the summer weather finally here and after months of putting it off (and staying latched to a desk job most days), I've decided to do something about it.
I've set this personal goal not just because I want to be healthier, but I want to feel healthier - since becoming the editor of Oakville News last fall, I've noticed my daily habits have changed by a notable margin.
I'm spending more time than ever in my office and indoors. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of our staff and I like my job. It's just editing requires a lot of desk work.
But I used to run marathons for crying out loud! I haven't run a road race since the pandemic began in 2020, and I miss spending more time outdoors and time dedicated to exercising, even if only lightly.
And that's why last week I set myself an ambitious goal of walking a total of one million steps, starting last Thursday, June 20, 2024 (the first day of summer), and leading up to Labour Day.
By documenting my challenge publicly here, not only have I set a goal, but I have a way of being accountable to it. And along the way, I'll be talking to some local experts in our community about my health journey and how you too can start walking more to improve your health too - one step at a time.
What are the benefits to this much walking?
For several years now, walking 10,000 steps a day has cited as a popular fitness goal, but there wasn't much scientific research to back up that number until fall 2022.
That's when University of Sydney and University of Southern Denmark scientists published their findings of a three-year study looking at the walking/running habits of adults in the United Kingdom. Their work was published two years ago in the journals JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology.
The study noted their findings were "observational, meaning they cannot show direct cause and effect." But it also stressed there were "strong and consistent associations seen across both studies at the population level."
But trainers, fitness experts and doctors around the world have referenced dozens of soft benefits and concrete health benefits to increasing your step count and making time for light fitness every day:
- It improves your cardiovascular health
- Better mood
- Stronger muscles and joints
- Improved bone health
- Better sleep (both longer and higher quality)
- Increased energy levels
- Increased physical stamina
- Reduced risk of chronic diseases
- Enhanced respiratory health
- and a longer lifespan!
So there's plenty of good reasons for me to get out and walk more. When I called my family doctor and asked him about this idea, he said, "Unless there's a large, accidental injury from you pushing yourself too hard while running [or something like that], then I can only think of positive benefits from you."
How do you measure one million steps?
In order to quantify my success (or lack there of!), there need to be some parameters. First, how long is "summer"?
To balance the most and least amount of time, I'll be using the summer solstice and end of school summer vacations are the benchmark. That means the clock begins Thursday, June 20, and will end on Labour Day, this year on Monday, Sept. 2.
That means there's a total of 75 consecutive calendar days for this walk-a-thon - a fair balance between the arguable 65-91 days "summer" could last.
For this challenge, I'm only enforcing two self-imposed rules:
- During the 75 days between (and including) June 20 - Sept. 2, I must walk a total of 1,000,000 (one million) cumulative steps.
- On each specific calendar day, I must walk a minimum of 5,000 steps - no exceptions.
While that sounds straightforward, you don't need a calculator that the common "10,000 daily steps" over 75 days will see me miss the mark by 25 per cent.
In order to get this done, I'll actually need to walk an average of 13,334 steps every day. And so far, according to my Apple Health functions, my average total steps per day in June 2024 has been a measly 4,510 every day.
That means to meet my new daily minimum, my daily step count is about to triple. And at bare minimum, I want to try for at least the baseline 10,000.
My apple watch and iPhone has been synced so that having either one of them on me will count the steps - but I also learned the hard way that if I don't have a device on my person, my steps won't count. And to get to my goal on time, every step is going to matter.
How's it going so far?
Well, after the first five days of my challenge, I'm at just under 43,000 steps in total - or a little over 8,400 per day. That's almost double my average amount of walking, and it's a good start!
But I've still got miles to go: I've been building up my endurance again and learning to prioritize scheduling time to walk. To get 13,300+ steps per day, I need to dedicate almost two and a half hours of concentrated walking or walking activities every day.
I'm going to need to get creative in order to finish this challenge - but I'm up for it. And I'm encouraging everyone to join me this summer in walking more, getting outside more, and making fitness a (slightly bigger) priority for the season.
See you on the trails!