15,000 Steps A Day Is The New Standard

Redd Angelo / Unsplash

Forget what you’ve heard about the 10,000-steps-a-day rule, and up it by 5k. Walking 15,000 steps daily is now the exercise target for most people, according to research.

Prolonged sitting has become a major health issue for many people, especially those with office jobs. Up until recently, combatting the sedentary career involved exercise, at the very least walking 10,000 steps.

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Warwick in England found that walking 15,000 steps significantly lessens your risk of multiple diseases.

Sirotorn Sumpunkulpak / Unsplash

In the study, 111 postal service workers were recruited to participate and be measured on body mass indexes, waist sizes, blood sugar levels and cholesterol profiles. The participants wore trackers throughout the week and during the weekend to monitor how many steps they took.

The results were staggering. Some people sat at their desks for 15 hours a day while mail carriers were very active, and each person’s overall health reflected their activity. What’s worse: for every hour beyond five that workers sat each day, their risk of developing heart disease increased by two-tenths of a percentage.

That is terrifying.

So where do the 15,000 steps come in? The study ultimately found that the mail carriers who walked over 15,000 steps a day had normal body mass indexes, waistlines and metabolic profiles and had no increased risk of heart disease.

Morgan Sessions / Unsplash

If you have a desk job, you don’t exactly have the opportunity to leave and walk for two hours, which is what the study recommends, but it does find that walking briskly before work and afterwards, as well as taking a few 10-minute breaks can be just as effective.

Don’t be afraid by the number. With some light strategy and an hour or two of time set aside, you’ll be at 15,000 in no time.