The little iPhone app called Health was revealing to me.  Apple auto-installs this on new phones, I think, since I can tell you with certainty I would not have had the interest to install it myself.   I clicked it open a few years ago, unaware that it was tracking my steps already for months and months with a build-in pedometer in the phone.  Clever stuff.  Also, shocking stuff.

The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention say that 7-8,000 steps of walking a day are all you need to stay well.  Sedentary people log 1000-3000 steps a day.

Apparently, when you are sedentary as an adult you increase your health risks dramatically.

Your risk of experience anything – from strokes to cancer to depression to heart attacks-  decrease dramatically as your activity increases.

10,000 steps a day is the recommendation.

I was barely hitting 2000 steps!

Apparently I was only 10% of the way to healthy and active in my LA lifestyle.

Sedentary.  That word shocked me.

Me.  Wellness expert.  Advocate of motion and flow.  Sedentary?

Here’s how and why I started walking around more and now getting back to running again.  

Yes, I was barely walking 2000 steps in Los Angeles and didn’t realize it.  After all: I drive places. I sit to write even when I’m making things around the house like food or stying or crafts. But, I walked to the corner grocery, walk the dogs, walk to do local errands. I was sure I would have at least 6000 steps.

This was my great awakening to see that I was incredibly inactive.

When I first moved to Los Angeles I would hike the canyons for at least 45 minutes a day. I would walk most everywhere (as the only person on the sidewalk most times) and I would go to the gym and yoga classes, too.

I had to take baby steps back to peak fitness and beyond.  I had to get the graph up to a higher level.

Most importantly: I had to feel better!

Are you walking 10,000 steps a day?

A cheap pedometer can tell you.

In my humble opinion it can be a life-changing move.

Live Science breaks down some of the science behind the 10,000 steps a day idea in THIS article:   

“One study found that women who increased their step count to nearly 10,000 steps a day reduced their blood pressure after 24 weeks. Another study of overweight women found that walking 10,000 steps a day improved their glucose levels.

Walking 10,000 steps a day is not an official recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, the agency recommends adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking. To meet the CDC’s recommendation, you need to walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day, Tudor-Locke said.

I’ve been aiming for 10,000 steps a day, and not looking back!

Lately, I average 7,000 steps a day with the occasional “lazy day” thrown in.  The more I move around, the faster its going away.

No longer are my “long” dog walks enough exercise, even though they do inspire me.

By the way… walking is also an amazing part of Feng Shui in my way. Even the short walks:

All this said, I’m getting myself an Apple watch just for workouts now that I’m starting to run and hike again, to celebrate the gains I’ve made in fitness!

Whatever notion you can do, do as much of it as you can.  This is so important not just for our physical strength and fitness in apparent ways, but the research on brain power and turning back the clocks for our bodies all points to aerobic fitness, too!

Enjoy it all!!!

xoxo

Dana

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