WHAT WHO SAYS – The goal of ten thousand steps a day has been indicated by the World Health Organization as a goal for those who want to fight sedentary lifestyle and adopt one healthier lifestyle. Walking helps reduce the risk of many diseases, including hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes; improves muscle tone and facilitates the consumption of calories and therefore of body fat. It also helps improve mood and sleep quality. The threshold of ten thousand steps has however been questioned on several occasions. For example, Mike Brannan, from Public Health England, pointed out that many of the scientific studies on this have turned out rather arbitrary, since they only compared walkers to people who stop far below ten thousand steps, analyzing calories burned, blood pressure and blood glucose levels without taking other parameters into account. Furthermore, the obese who are affected by certain pathologies would also benefit from smaller shares of steps (for example between 6000 and 8000), while those who have to lose weight should travel many more. Regardless of the controversy, we must consider the ten thousand daily steps as a sort of limit threshold, on which to measure our physical activity and, if we are in good health, a goal and a stimulus to dedicate ourselves to the movement.
HOW MANY ARE TEN THOUSAND STEPS – In terms of distance they are more or less equivalent to eight kilometers. Seems like a huge amount? Let’s think about how many times we walk long corridors to work and to the supermarket, or we have to park the car a long way from the place we want to reach, take the dog for a walk, or play with our children. This number of steps expresses ideal levels of moderate physical activity to be achieved even if not continuously throughout the day. Walking ten thousand steps a day is not a mission impossible. Seeing is believing. Let’s equip ourselves with a pedometer to download on your mobile or, better, one of the numerous trackers to wear on your wrist: the latter are much more precise in measuring our movements. If our days do not spend entirely seated at a table, but involve a bit of motion, such as getting from home to the bus stop, or tidying up the rooms or going some way on foot, we will notice that our budget still includes a good share. . To get to ten thousand just add a walk, for example, on a lunch break or at another time of the day, a shopping trip with friends or family, or walking up and down when we talk on the phone or wait for the subway. Taking advantage of every possible opportunity to take even just a few steps, we reach the goal with less effort than we would have imagined, with significant benefits for our health.
TO BURN CALORIES – But if our goal is to lose weight, we need to work a little harder. To make walking become a fat burning fitness, it must be transformed into a aerobic workout. That is, it is necessary to walk with a rhythm capable of making our heartbeat and respiratory rate rise above a certain level: at that point our body will begin to really burn, affecting its energy reserves. Again, fitness bracelets that measure heart rate can be very useful, telling us when we would have reached the optimal levels for our training. At an empirical level, we say that we need to walk at the speed we keep when we are in a hurry: we must get to feel the heart beating more rapidly and that the breathing becomes faster, but without getting to breathlessness. We walk with wide strides, in an upright position, swinging your arms and checking that you always have good foot support and that you are breathing deeply. In a short time, sweating should also increase and speaking could be a little more difficult. For an effective fat-burning workout you need to reach the minimum speed of 4.5 kilometers per hour, but with a little training you can easily get to 6, and keep the pace for at least 40-60 minutes without stopping. We always remember to start training gradually, slowing the pace if we feel too short of breath or feel pain. If we walk to lose weight and not just to relax and for pastime, we need to train at least three times a week. Naturally, an hour-long sport walk will make us walk, if not all, at least a good share of the fateful ten thousand steps. Adding them to those of normal everyday life, the total number will leave us amazed.
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