04/18/2023
When I see patients in the outpatient world, I often ask them, “What has your movement been like since I last saw you?” More often than not, they repeat back to me, “You mean, how many times did I exercise?” No, I really mean have you intentionally put movement into you daily life?
There is a role and purpose in exercising for exercise sake, but equally important is just moving. What’s the easiest way to do this? Steps!
Multiple studies over the years have shown that the more simple movement you intentionally put into your life on a regular basis, lowers your risk of dying regardless of age, s*x or race. Just this year, Circulation published an article that analyzed eight different studies that included 20,000 individuals in 42 countries (including the USA). The data analysis showed that walking between 6,000 and 9,000 steps daily is linked to a dramatically lower risk of cardiovascular disease for older adults. Not as much benefit was seen in younger adults, but heart attacks and stroke are also less common in those under 60. Even as few as an additional 1,000 steps taken daily marks a substantial reduction in cardiovascular risk -- as much as 40-50%! That is huge, more than most medications!
This does not mean that you shouldn’t be exercising and getting your heart rate up. We also know that being physically active, especially before the age of 60 benefits many of the precursors of cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. These conditions are more likely to develop in younger adults, and are important for early prevention of disease. While it is true that the more steps, the better – the most important thing is to increase one’s step count.
I have a mostly sedentary job with a small office space – if I don’t move intentionally, I often only get in 2,000-3,000 steps (per my phone’s built in tracker). So to try to increase my daily movement, I specifically add in more steps in my daily life by parking farther away from my destination or march in place while waiting for an insurance company to take me off hold (each minute = ~ 100 steps!). How have you moved today?
