Devlin Brown at the water cooler: Step up to improve your fitness and all-round health

You often talk about walking, but wearing a smartwatch I find it almost impossible to rack up 10,000 steps. Do healthy people really walk that much every day?

I couldn’t find an office in the greater Sandton City precinct the other day. Having walked into the meeting 10 minutes late, the kind meeting host told me, almost to the step, how many steps I would have done because sometimes she also parks where I did and goes past certain shops on the way in. Other days, she told me, she gets home and tells her husband with exasperation that she has barely done 2,000 steps.

It amazes me how many people are tracking their steps. Have we become obsessed? I think so. While it would be useful to call it a healthy obsession, if it leads to stress or anxiety, then it is not good. Be that as it may, while the NHS in the UK, for example, suggests a brisk 10-minute walk daily, there’s a universal target floating around that we need to target 10,000 steps.

The reason it feels so “far” is because it is — 10,000 steps equates to 6km-8mk, depending on the size of your steps. You might do nothing at the office all day, go for a brisk 3km walk and realise you’re still nowhere near your target.

But, fear not. Assuming you walk from your car to an office, and walk between your car and the shops, where you walk up and down the aisles, and then do your brisk 3km walk, you may find that you hover somewhere around 7,000 steps. And that’s good.

According to research published recently, anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 steps is the sweet spot. In “Daily Steps and Health Outcomes in Adults: a Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis” that was published in The Lancet in late July the authors summarise it like this: “For all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, dementia, and falls, an inverse non-linear dose-response association was found, with inflection points at around 5,000—7,000 steps per day. An inverse linear association was found for cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer incidence, cancer mortality, type 2 diabetes incidence, and depressive symptoms. Based on our meta-analyses, compared with 2,000 steps per day, 7,000 steps per day was associated with a 47% lower risk of all-cause mortality.”

The authors add: “Although 10,000 steps per day can still be a viable target for those who are more active, 7,000 steps per day is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes and might be a more realistic and achievable target for some.”

That’s the good news. The bad news is that some people are afraid of walking in the streets, and if the City of Johannesburg gets its way, places such as Pirates Sports Club and Marks Park (among many others) will be turned into high-density developments. Every weekend I see people either walking within the perimeter of the sports grounds — no doubt because it feels safer than the streets — or partaking in good, wholesome physical activity. Yet, this refuge is at serious risk if the electorate doesn’t tell the officials mismanaging the city to take a hike of their own.

To think that those in whom we entrust the management of our city don’t see the communal and health value of spaces such as these, and instead see them as a quick ticket to top up their diabolical finances, is demoralising at best.

When it comes to tracking steps, I have found that the days I keep myself busy — that’s doing work around the house and in the garden, running errands, perhaps passing a rugby ball with my sons, and more — are the days I easily surpass the 10,000 mark. However, knowing that hitting the 7,000 step mark is also noticeably good for me certainly takes the obsession out of my newfound smartwatch hobby.

The best advice is to choose to be active, and add in brisk walks when you can. Of course, doing this in addition to a dedicated exercise regimen is even better. If we can, let’s do this while supporting our community sports clubs.