Hey Zug – creating zest for life! – the big step challenge

Step by step

Most people know that exercise is important for health. And many also know the guideline about taking 10,000 steps per day. But where does this number come from? And how many steps are actually good for your health? Can you step up? :-) Don’t worry, in the text below we will explain step by step why and how many steps are important for our health and condition.

The basis of human movement

As a rule, children take their first “unaccompanied” steps between the ages of one and one-and-a-half, and from them on we all move stepwise throughout life. “Moving one foot, usually forwards, while at the same time shifting the entire body weight onto this foot” is the basis of human locomotion. This form of movement takes us wherever we go.
For most of human history, steps have been our only method of moving, before transport by externally operated resources such as cars, electric scooters or even horses. We had to stroll, walk, march, wander, run or sprint to move forwards. As hunter-gatherers, we covered long distances of approximately 20 to 30 km every day. These walking ranges became smaller in the New Stone Age with the rise of agriculture and animal husbandry, along with the associated settled communities of approximately 10,000 years ago. The distances we cover daily have further reduced over recent decades due to increasing motorisation and predominantly sedentary employment.

In 2015, the people of Switzerland covered barely 2.8 km per day on foot or by bike. Converted, this means we build up an average of approximately 4000 steps per day, whereas the hunter-gatherers covered ten times the daily distance with their approximately 40,000 steps. However, despite our very different lifestyles, we are almost identical to our forebears, genetically speaking. Today we are still “born walkers and hikers”! From this perspective, then, it is hardly surprising that our metabolisms and muscular systems benefit from a greater number of steps. And that an ongoing lack of exercise is associated with non-communicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disorders and diabetes.

How many steps are good for your health?

Countless smart watches and wearables specify a target of 10,000 steps per day, so many people are aware of this target value, which corresponds to approximately 7-8 km or 1.5-2 hours of walking. These 10,000 steps are a great number that is easy to remember – so practical – but on closer inspection they have little to do with the scientific basis. Initially, the figure of 10,000 actually came from an advertising campaign, not a study; the number first appeared in 1964 in connection with the name of a Japanese pedometer. Nevertheless, over the last 50 years, numerous studies have demonstrated that a higher number of steps goes hand-in-hand with better health. Some of the studies even made use of this threshold in their surveys. A 100-day challenge in which participants were to take 10,000 steps each day showed, for example, that meeting the threshold resulted in greater wellbeing, less stress and fewer depressive moods.
Larger cohort studies, however, indicated that even a somewhat smaller number of steps may be enough to benefit health. This means, for example, that there is a connection between a country’s obesity rate and the average number of steps per person taken in that country. The curve for this connection flattens from 7000-9000 steps, however.
Another study of over 16,000 women (average age 72) showed that mortality clearly drops with an increasing number of steps. But even here, the decrease stagnated at a maximum of 7500 steps per day. The number of 7500 steps seems to be sufficient, at least for older women, to achieve the maximum possible benefit for general health.

These findings are highlighted by WHO in its generally valid and comparatively rather more detailed exercise recommendations. WHO recommends that adults should be physically active for 150 – 300 minutes of moderate (slightly increased breathing) or 75 – 150 minutes of intensive (breaking a sweat) exercise per week. For children and young people up to the age of 17, a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to intensive physical activity is recommended. As this recommendation makes clear, the health benefits of physical activity do not depend only on the duration of the activity, but also on its intensity. Other formulations quantify the health-related scope of physical activity not (just) in minutes, but also in terms of the minimum number of kilocalories which must be burned on top of the basal metabolic rate. In this regard, large prospective cohort studies show that burning approximately 1000 kcal/week during moderate physical activity is clearly beneficial to health. This corresponds rather to the 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. If converted into “step units”, the following should be borne in mind:

  • Very slow, ambling steps are less beneficial to health than brisk walking or even running.
  • To achieve moderate intensity, a walking or running speed of at least 4 km/h to 6.5 km/h is necessary, depending on fitness.
  • Strictly speaking, beside the number of steps, the slope and/or additional weight, such as a rucksack, should also be taken into account.

Finally, you should remember that steps, even if an activity fundamental to many physical activities, are only one physical activity. Even activities that do not involve steps, such as cycling, swimming or strength training, can achieve results at least as relevant and health-boosting as walking, running or jogging. In view of the versatility of modern sporting activities and because the number of steps makes no statement about their intensity, the famous number should be regarded with caution. Nevertheless, steps represent an absolutely fundamental activity that is very easy to measure and that almost all of us use to accomplish at least part of our physical activity. As the big studies show, the exact amount of a given physical activity is less important than not spending too much time sitting down and moving around more instead. And that is exactly why steps represent a very welcome, simple and entirely helpful measurement. The 10,000 daily steps are thus not “a gold standard”, but if you achieve this, you have definitively already done something for your own wellbeing and physical health.

In our “Hey Zug – creating zest for life!” campaign, we are currently counting all our steps with you! After we had already collectively walked right round Switzerland in the first week of our #HeyZug #BewegDich-Challenge and counted a phenomenal 3,826,425 steps, on 30.03.2021, the people of Zug set themselves a new target: we are going to walk to the Equator in 3 weeks – 5,243.9 km or 7,491,428 steps. We need your help to hit that target – walk with us and count the steps that will take us all virtually to the Equator. If you need inspiration for a walk or a jogging route in Zug Canton, then take a look at our Route Challenges. If you know Zug Canton really well and are often out and about on foot, then share your favourite route with others and record your own challenge on www.hey-zug.ch! Don’t forget to enter your steps :-)!

Where and how can you accumulate more steps in your daily routine? Here are a few tips and tricks:

Tips and tricks for hitting your step target!

More steps in your daily life

  • If you travel by bus or train, get off at the bus stop or station before your destination and walk the last stretch of the way.
  • Take the stairs rather than the lift or the escalator.
  • Go for walks.
  • Do small shopping trips on foot.
  • Leave the car behind and walk whenever possible.
  • Steps can also be recorded when you do housework, e.g., hoovering, taking the bins out or spring-cleaning.
  • Make a date for a takeaway coffee instead of sitting on the sofa drinking coffee at home.

More steps when working at home – not a problem!

  • Stand up when you talk on the phone and move about the room. If at all possible, take your mobile and go for a walk outside during longer conversations.
  • Stand up once per hour and walk around your flat. - Take active breaks in which you, e.g., walk once round the block.
  • Do sport after work, go for a walk or jog, or train at whatever you like.

 

 

References:
Ainsworth, B. E., Haskell, W. L., Herrmann, S. D., Meckes, N., Bassett, D. R., Jr., Tudor-Locke, C., . . . Leon, A. S. (2011). 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 43(8), 1575-1581.
Althoff, T., Sosič, R., Hicks, J. L., King, A. C., Delp, S. L., & Leskovec, J. (2017). Large-scale physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality. Nature, 547(7663), 336-339.
Church, T. S., Thomas, D. M., Tudor-Locke, C., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Earnest, C. P., Rodarte, R. Q., . . . Bouchard, C. (2011). Trends over 5 decades in U.S. occupation-related physical activity and their associations with obesity. PloS One, 6(5), e19657.
Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I. M., . . . Swain, D. P. (2011). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 43(7), 1334-1359.
Güllich, A., & Krüger, M. (2013). Sport - Das Lehrbuch für das Sportstudium. Berlin: Springer Spektrum.
Hallam, K. T., Bilsborough, S., & de Courten, M. (2018). "Happy feet": evaluating the benefits of a 100-day 10,000 step challenge on mental health and wellbeing. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 19.
King, A. C., & Powell, K. E. (2018). 2018 physical activity guidelines advisory committee scientific report. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Lee, I.-M., Shiroma, E. J., Kamada, M., Bassett, D. R., Matthews, C. E., & Buring, J. E. (2019). Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women. JAMA Intern Med, 179(8), 1105-1112.
WHO. (2020). WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

This might also interest you:

22. Juli 2022

Balance

28. Juli 2021

The menstrual cycle and sport

02. September 2020

Flow