Nothing can replace the endorphin high of sweating it out in
your favorite fitness class, but seeing the mileage tick up on your wearable is
pretty addicting. (Let's face it: Almost everyone has paced around the room a
few times just to round up that number.)
But how many steps should you be aiming
for exactly? Until now, the doctor-recommended advice has been 10,000, AKA five
miles. But a new study published in the International Journal of Obesity finds
that 10,000 steps is a bit too
low. Researchers found that it's actually 15,000 steps a day (seven miles) that
is linked to keeping metabolism balanced and warding off long-term health
problems.
The study compared the health stats of
people who worked in an office versus mail carriers--a job where you
essentially walk all day. Sitting all day was linked to a higher BMI and
cholesterol, and a slower metabolism.
Okay, truth: This was a pretty limited
study (with 55 office workers and 56 mail carriers) that compared two groups of
people with vastly different jobs. But still, the results were clear. Racking
up seven miles a day has major health benefits.
"It takes effort, but we can accumulate
15,000 steps a day by walking
briskly for two hours at about a 4 mph pace," William Tigbe, MD, a
physician and public health researcher at the University of Warwick who led the
study, tells the New York Times. "Our metabolism is not well-suited to
sitting down all the time."
That's why you might, for instance, take a quick walk during your lunch
break--or even get up from your desk every hour, on the hour. So now, you can
get all scientific with your anti-sedentary campaign, with a new mileage number
to set on your tracker.
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