How many steps a day should you take?

Walking is a simple and effective form of exercise that has many benefits for your health. But how much walking is enough to stay healthy? This article will provide some guidelines on how many steps you should aim to take each day.

How many steps a day is recommended?

According to a 2011 analysis of numerous studies, most experts report that a healthy number of steps for an adult is between 7,000 and 13,000 steps. The creators of the analysis state that a reasonable target is a value "in the middle," or 10,000 steps.

For adults of average height and fitness, 10,000 steps means walking for about 5 miles a day. This may sound like a challenge at first. However, it's worth knowing that the first 4,000 steps (or less than half of the recommended goal) can already bring noticeable benefits to our health. Last year's study on a group of more than 17,000 women showed that walking such a distance can reduce our risk of premature death by as much as 41%!

If your goal is to walk for health, and you haven't walked much so far, you don't have to start right away with a goal of 10,000 steps. A smaller but realistic goal, such as 5,000, will suffice to start. However, the important thing is to be consistent and remember to reach it every day.

Health benefits of walking

Walking has a host of health benefits, including reducing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It can also help improve your mental well-being and mood.

A recent study found that just 25 minutes of daily walking can significantly lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.

And if you walk at a brisk pace for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, you can burn enough calories to lose about 1 pound per week without making any other changes to your diet or lifestyle.

To sum up all walking benefits, it can help in:

- lowering the risk of developing some varieties of cancer;
- improving the functioning of the circulatory system;
- strengthening joints;
- strengthening immunity;
- helping to maintain a healthy weight;
- reducing stress levels;
- improving the quality of sleep.

How to motivate yourself to take more steps?

If you're looking to increase the number of steps you take each day, here are a few tips to get you motivated. First, set yourself a goal- such as 5 000 steps per day. Then, track your progress using a pedometer or fitness tracker. Seeing your progress encourages you to keep going!

If you already tried traditional trackers, and didn't find the motivating, we also invite you to try Fitale! Fitale is a fitness based mobile game, in which your steps can be exchanged for progress in the app. You can also pledge your own daily step goals and get rewarded for reaching them. Fitale is free and you can check it out here, on the AppStore.

Other ways to stay motivated include setting yourself rewards for reaching milestones, signing up for a step challenge with friends, or joining a walking group. Finding an activity you enjoy makes it more likely that you'll stick with it, so make sure to choose something that suits you.

If you are looking for other ways to motivate yourself to exercise, you can also check out our other tips here.

Now you can get out there and start clocking those steps!

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Sources:

1. Hicklin T., How many steps for better health?, National Institutes of Health, 20919
   https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-many-steps-better-health
2. Saint-Maurice P., Troiano R., Bassett D., Graubard B., Carlson S., Shiroma E., Fulton J., Matthews C., Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With Mortality Among US Adults, JAMA, 2020
   ‍https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763292
3. Tudor-Locke, C., Craig, C.L., Brown, W.J. et al. How many steps/day are enough for adults?, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011
   https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-8-79